Going Home
by RiotAct
Summary: When a girl is visited by a ghost with an agenda, namely one Spot Conlon she finds herself unwillingly helping him try to fix his past. Can they make things right again or will he be forced to reside in limbo forever?
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own Newsies or any of the characters/story plot. Disney does and boy are they lucky.  
  
"Lillian Reese get down here this instant!" I made a face at my closed door and huffed irritably. There was no way I was going downstairs; I'd have to help my mother move all the heavy boxes into the basement. Looking around at my new bedroom, I shook my head. Outside the townhouse traffic blared and screeched.  
  
Getting up, I brushed my black hair over one shoulder and moved to a box full of posters sitting next to my unmade bed. Rummaging around I found a container of tacks and began carefully arranging my posters on the walls like they had been in my old room in Vermont. Vermont was nothing like New York City and I was definitely experiencing culture shock.  
  
"Lily!" this time my mother's voice was wheedling and plaintive and I heaved a huge sigh.  
  
"Lily I found a bunch of old books in the basement! Want to see them?" This perked up my ears and knowing fully well that it was a trap, I bound up my long hair with an elastic and raced down the flight of stairs, that opened up directly into the living room. My mother had said that the two story apartment had been a lodging house for newspaper boys at the turn of the century. I had been more concerned with leaving behind all my Vermont friends than what our new home in Brooklyn had once been.  
  
My mother stood in the living room, thumbing through a dusty book. A cardboard box was resting on the sofa next to her. I attacked the box hoping to find some decent things to read. I devoured books and had read most of the ones I owned ten times over. My mother told me that I could have the books once I finished helping her move things. Rolling my eyes, I had no choice but to comply.  
  
An hour later found me sitting on my bed once more, excitedly piling the books around me. Most were classics, like Oliver Twist and David Copperfield. Some were blank, meant to be written in not read. One that I pulled open had a tattered velvety blue cover and had sloppy, sprawling handwriting on its yellowed pages. When I carefully opened the book a key on a black string and an ancient newspaper clipping fell out of the pages.  
  
Taking the newspaper clipping in-between thumb and forefinger, I held it up gently to examine it. It showed a picture of some fifteen odd boys, all smiling with their chests puffed out. Putting the clipping to one side, I looked at the key next. The string was frayed and the key tarnished with age. It was an old key, made out of wrought iron. Tracing the design on the end with a fingertip, I opened the journal to the first page.  
  
"Property of Spot Conlon. You read, you die."  
  
I snorted with laughter and wrinkled my nose suddenly. My room smelled like cigarette smoke. Casting my green eyes towards the window I was shocked to find it closed. My mother didn't smoke and a second ago the room had smelled like the cleaning materials she had used on the floor.  
  
Shaking my head slightly and muttering something about the stink, I began to read the journal.  
  
"This ain't gonna be one of them prissy boy books, for starters. I'm using this to write about turf fights and to keep track of my newsies. Action, my right hand man told me it would be a good idea and since he's smart and all, I figured why not.  
  
I am Spot Conlon, the almighty leader of the Brooklyn newsies, the most notorious kid in New York. Don't laugh, it's true. Honest Injun."  
  
I did laugh and as I continued to read, I was struck almost immediately by how arrogant and self-assured this boy was. He went on to say that he was seventeen, like me and an orphan in charge of twenty boys ranging in ages from five to his age.  
  
I was absorbed by this strange journal. The spelling was atrocious (A/N – I'm only spelling it right when I write it out because I'm lazy) and his mannerism's crude. But he had a compelling oftentimes charming personality. Although he said he wasn't going to write about "prissy boy" things, he often sidetracked into topics such as girls or worries about friends.  
  
"I went out with Lizzie Andrews today and God I don't know why I don't just stick to the girl newsies. This Lizzie broad wouldn't even so much as kiss me, let alone anything else. Not that the girl newsies are sluts, but I'd have gotten more action from a nun."  
  
I burst into laughter and was startled when I looked around to see that the light in my room had dimmed dramatically. Switching on a lamp I had positioned on my bedside table I tossed the key up into the air and then caught it. Looking down at it, I put it around my neck. I could hear my mom yelling up the stairs asking if I was hungry, and I hollered back that I wasn't.  
  
Opening up a box I rummaged around until I found sheets, my pillows and my quilt. Setting up my bed, I had my back to the window and was bending over when I suddenly smelled cigarette smoke again, this time so strong it was as if someone were smoking in the room with me. I looked down at my arms that had stopped mid-flinging motion, my quilt hanging listlessly from my hands. My arms were covered with goose bumps. The temperature in the room had chilled dramatically.  
  
"It's about damn time someone found that key. Turn around so's I can get a look at ya." I jumped a mile into the air and swung around so fast I almost fell over, my eyes wide with terror. A translucent, hazy form stood by the window, a cigarette hanging out of a smirking mouth. Though it was see-through and when it moved, the features lost their detail, it looked as real as an actual person.  
  
"What the fuck?" I cowered near my bed as the boy, for it was clearly a boy, moved about my room looking with interest at my belongings. I rubbed my eyes but when I was done, the ghost was still there and my eyes were just sore. The boy smirked at me still, amusement on his pale face.  
  
When I jerked a shoe off of my foot and threw it at him, he bent over and laughed so hard that his image blurred and flickered and I thought he might disappear. Swiping at his eyes with a sleeve, he crossed his legs and floated an inch or two off of the ground, studying me intently.  
  
"What do you want?" He didn't answer me immediately and we just watched each other, him curiously and me with both curiosity and fear. He was dressed like a boy from the turn of the century. He had on a button- down long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up and pushed past his elbows, a vest that hung open, long pants and a cabby hat cocked on his head.  
  
"Ya found the key and put it on didn't ya?" When I mutely nodded, he grinned at me, cocking his head to one side as if that explained everything.  
  
"I'm bound to the key, whenever someone puts it on it sort of calls to me and that's who I haunt." My mouth hung open and the boy cackled again. When he was finished I bombarded him with questions.  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
"Spot Conlon."  
  
"What year were you born?"  
  
"1882."  
  
"How come you're a ghost? How did you die?" Spot Conlon sighed and shook his head, a lock of pale hair falling into one of his eyes. Wiping it away, he gave me a stern look.  
  
"Don't you know it's rude to ask someone how they died?"  
  
"I'm sorry I don't talk to ghosts often," I said dryly. He snorted and lit another phantom cigarette. I noticed that after his arrival, the smell had departed although the coolness in the room did not. I got up and put on a hooded sweatshirt.  
  
"I'm a ghost because I have unfinished business, and as to how I died..." He made a face but pointed to a spot on his vest I hadn't noticed before. There was a hole there and my eyebrows went up.  
  
"You were shot."  
  
"Exactly Sherlock, and yeah it hurt. Well, it only hurt for a little bit."  
  
"What's your unfinished business?" He glared at me, and I shrank away from his general direction at his obvious displeasure. When he spoke again, I had to strain to hear him; his voice was pitched that low and quiet.  
  
"I broke the heart of the one girl who loved me and as a result, she ended up with a real jackass. He's the one who killed me, as a matter of fact. My unfinished business is that I single-handedly ruined her life and never got a chance to set things right." When I scoffed, his eyes glowed with anger and he pointed a finger at me, too mad to speak.  
  
"THAT'S your unfinished business? How is it that you ruined her life just by dumping her?" Making an exasperated sound, he rose from his sitting position and waved an arm.  
  
"If it wasn't for me being an asshole Cinder never woulda run off to Harlem and into Spook and she never woulda ended up marrying him and getting her ass beaten every day. He broke that girl, and let me tell you her spirit and personality were stronger than stone. He killed me before I could help her get away from him and she never did leave him."  
  
He pointed to the key I wore around my neck and I looked down at it.  
  
"She gave that to me, which is why I suppose I'm connected to it. Nobody's put it on in over fifty years. It's good to come back again." He stretched and gave me a wolfish grin which was disconcerting to say the least because his face blurred again and I could see my Misfit's poster through his head. The grinning skeleton on the poster and the grinning visage of the boy-ghost made me swallow hard.  
  
"How do I get you to leave?" The boy threw back his head and laughed, and I regretted asking the question.  
  
"You don't sweet face. Last person who wore that key had to die in order for me to stop haunting 'em."  
  
"D...D...Die?"  
"Ah calm down doll. I didn't do it, they died from natural causes. Now if you'll excuse me, I got places to go. It's been way too damn long since I've been able to get out of that basement."  
  
And with that, he disappeared. I sat on my bed hard, and it was a long time before I could look away from where the ghost had been sitting. It was even longer before I could manage to close my eyes and actually sleep that night as well. 


	2. Chapter Two

          When I woke up the next morning, I rolled over and peered at my alarm clock. It read 6:15am, and I groaned. I wasn't ready to start at my new school. I felt nervous, and like I wanted to throw up. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes as I listened to the steady flow of traffic outside, supposedly normal even at this early in the morning. I could smell coffee and I finally threw my quilt off of me and stood up.

          I didn't like any of the clothes that I owned that morning, and after throwing a shirt across the room and nearly screaming in exasperation, I pursed my lips determinedly. If the kids at this school were going to like me or hate me, they'd do it on my terms. Putting my hair into a pony tail, I threw on a pair of faded blue jeans that I rolled into cuffs at the bottoms, my Adicts tee-shirt, my Grip-fast boots, and my jean vest decorated with band patches and pins.

          I had a cabby hat not unlike the one that the ghost boy had been wearing when he appeared that I pulled onto my head as I galloped down the stairs towards the kitchen. I nearly stopped cold when I realized that it all hadn't been a weird dream. Dropping into a chair at the table, I shot my eyes around the kitchen half-expecting the ghost to appear out of thin air.

          When he didn't, I accepted a mug of coffee and a bagel from my mother with muttered thanks. My mother was wearing a business suit, with her hair swept up in some nice looking twist. She had gotten a job at an advertisement agency which is how we ended up moving to NYC. My father and mother had been divorced ever since I was five, and he had moved to Maine when I was ten. I rarely saw him before, so moving even further away didn't break my heart.

          "Are you nervous?"

          "Nope," I lied, sipping at my coffee. My mother shot me a look and bit daintily into a forkful of watermelon. She ate fruit twice a day and a small dinner, constantly trying to maintain her 'girlish figure'. I rolled my eyes and would have looked away if the boy ghost hadn't materialized right behind her in the kitchen, mimicking her movements with exaggerated gestures. My eyes must have widened in horror, for my mother ran off to the bathroom after shouting at me what the matter was, and 'did you see a gray hair?'

          It took all my willpower not to throw my bagel at the boy who lounged against the side of the table. Today he was solid enough to appear almost real, his skin even had some color to it, and I could see that his eyes were blue and his hair blonde. He did still appear luminous and had an unnatural glow that surrounded him. I irritably picked at my bagel and tried to ignore him, but he started to amuse himself by shifting my coffee cup across the table every time I leaned forward to grab it. After the fifth time, I shot him a murderous look.

          "Do you have to keep doing that?" The boy-ghost smirked at me.

          "No."

          "Then would ya stop?"

          "No."

          I rose and silently flung the mug of coffee into the sink and chucked my half-eaten bagel into the trash. The ghost winked at me and disappeared while I seethed inside. Something this dead shouldn't be this annoying. Maybe he was a poltergeist.

          My mother returned from the bathroom frowning, and snapped at me to get outside and ready to go to school. We caught a cab which my mother informed me that would be the one and only time we did that, I would have to either walk or take the subway the rest of the year. When she dropped me off at the small private school St. Margaret's that I would be attending, my jaw dropped. Luckily for me it was an alternative style school, which meant no uniforms. But it was very small and the kids were getting out of highly expensive cars.

          I passed by one girl who was complaining about having to borrow fifty dollars from her little sister because she had bought a two hundred dollar purse over the weekend. I rolled my eyes and tried to breathe deep.

          "It only gets worse y'know." I looked over to where a girl stood nearby, her blood-red hair short and spiked in every which-way. She had a nose ring and was smoking a cigarette. She wore a dark blue denim jacket, Capri pants, creepers and a black and red striped t-shirt. A boy with a shaggy mop of black hair smirked as he lounged against the building, arms crossed.

          He had amazingly blue eyes and wore a wind-breaker with baggy pants and a white belt. He had powder blue Saucony sneakers and I raised my eyebrows at the pair of them. The girl stuck out a hand with chipped fingernail polish on her nails and I shook it.

          "I'm Meredith and this is Tony. Welcome to Hell, I mean Saint Margaret's." I felt goose bumps ripple up my arms and without glancing next to me, knew that Spot had appeared. A cool breeze that I could only assume was the equivalent of what a ghost's breath would feel like went past my cheek and I knew he was standing right alongside me.

          "I like them already. Boy you sure are in for it going to a hoity-toity place like this." I resisted the urge to snap something back at him, I needed to make friends not drive them away in droves by thinking I was mental. Gritting my teeth I ignored him.

          "I'm Lilly, and is this place really that bad?" Tony took a drag off of Meredith's cigarette and inclined his head thoughtfully as he exhaled. She snorted and shook her head, her long, dangly earrings tinkling playfully.

          "Nah I guess not, if you steer clear of the zombies. We'll introduce you to the fun kids. Where are you from?" I updated the two on my history briefly as we made our way inside once a bell rang. At some point Spot got bored with me and disappeared.

          Instead of having home room, since the school was so small, (there were only some two hundred odd kids) they had a huge assembly first thing in the morning, where everyone was required to sign in either as they entered the room or left it. If you didn't sign in, then you were counted as absent and they called your parents. Meredith and Tony sat in the back with five other kids, all dressed alternatively with brightly colored hair or facial piercings.

          "Mac, Heather, Will, Seanna, and Ryan this is Lilly." The other kids raised hands or nodded at me. We settled in as the head master began speaking from a podium. I was eerily reminded of "Harry Potter" as all the teachers were sitting in chairs on the stage flanking him. I snorted to myself and zoned out the speech.

          At the end of the assembly, after Meredith had perused my schedule and announced that I had first block class with her, she and Tony herded me towards the classroom where I met the one teacher that I would come to respect and ultimately rely on to help me keep my sanity while I was at St. Margaret's.

          Ms. Riley, the art teacher, was a young woman with long hair as black as mine. Her eyes were large and brown, but they were anything but calm or spacey as most art teacher's I had had were. She radiated a sort of nervous energy that kept me charged, and seemed to off-balance some of the other kids. She was always pacing, and critiquing work that kids had done. I think she liked me because instead of getting upset or angry when she said something about my work, I explained why I had done what I had done and let her know flat out that art was about different opinions and perceptions.

          The school day was cut up into four blocks that were two hours long, with an hour lunch in the middle. My first day really didn't go as horribly as I had expected it to; I had met up with a really cool group of kids who saved me from the 'new kid' syndrome. As a matter of fact, the next couple of days went by with no incidents whatsoever. I didn't even see Spot Conlon for those days and I had started to hope that his appearance in my apartment had only been temporary until he showed up on a Saturday morning.

           I woke up to muttered curses and small objects flying across the room to hit the adjacent wall. I tried to ignore it until a pencil streaked from my desk and embedded itself an inch below one of my posters. Sitting up, I brushed a handful of my hair out of my face and glared at the ghost, who was floating cross-legged next to my bed.

          "It's about time you woke up," he smirked at me. I merely ducked as he made one of my pillows fly past my head. Snarling, I swung at him with the other, and he laughed as it went right through him. Lounging on his stomach, he cocked his head at me.

          "You look awful first thing in the morning."

          "You look awful all the time," I shot back to which he raised an eyebrow at me and snorted.

          "I'm dead, what's your excuse?"

          "What do you want, Conlon?"

          "I'm bored."

          "Don't you have other ghosts or people to bother?" A shadow crossed his lean face and he floated away from me, turning himself to look out the window, so that his back was to me. This wasn't one of his better days, I could see through him to the outside, where the pearly gray light of dawn was hitting the rooftops.

          "I'm lonely." I was confused, and I didn't respond. When he didn't hear me say anything, he brought himself back to my bedside, and hovered next to me.

          "You can't visit anybody else can you? You're stuck with whoever lives in this building; you can only talk to me or my mom." The sudden realization hit me and it must have been true for his eyes glowed angrily, a bright, almost neon blue. When he vanished this time, I half expected him to show up again and chew me out, or at least toss more of my stuff around, but he didn't do any of that.

          When he did come back, it was hours later, while I was lying on my floor, sketching madly with a charcoal pencil. I knew he was there; I felt the chilly air and got the impression that someone was watching me.

          "That's nice," he merely said, his voice rougher than usual. If he had been alive, he would have had monstrous circles under his eyes, for the shadows on his face were more pronounced when I looked at him finally.

          "You don't look so hot," I ventured softly. He just looked at me, saying nothing until I cleared my throat and went back to my art. This time, when he spoke, I dropped my pencil and closed my eyes for right then and there; I knew that something big was going to happen.

          "Listen Lilly….I need your help…."

**Shout Outs**

**Splashey – Thanks, I hope it is interesting, hah. NYC is a pretty cool place to visit, I don't know if I could live there. I hope you keep reading, thanks for the review!**

**CiCi – Hah, hey now I like the name of it so far. **

**NadaZimri – an eternal guilt trip, only fitting for Spotty. I have no idea how I come up with these plots, they just sort of come to me. Glad you're reading it! :D**

**Et-spiritus-sancti—Yay! You guys rock so much for reading my stories, and cheering me on. I'm glad you both like it and are interested in the story line. I hope you keep enjoying it!! **

**Okay guys, the Casting Call. I will only accept people's profiles who have read and reviewed both of the chapters to this story. Hey I know, I'm a horrible, horrible person. So get readin' and reviewin'. Anyway once that is done, this is what I need…**

**Name:**

**Nickname:**

**Personality:**

**Description (what does your character look like/wear be specific and detailed):**

**Been in trouble with the law?**

**Quirks/What makes you human and not just some made up character:**

**History(****Family/your own):**

**Strengths/Weakness':**

**Which boy would you have if you could? (Spot is taken and I will only pair up people who I feel belong with their choice based on their profile…I TOLD you I was horrible)**

**Job(****Do you sell papers, work at Medda's, shine people's shoes, or have an alternate profession i.e. sitting on  your tucchus)?**


	3. Chapter Three

**A/N – Casting call is closed me thinks... I've gotten some splendid profiles to work with, and everyone will be included. I hope I do your characters justice :D  They should be introduced in this chapter or the next. – A/N**

When I opened my eyes again, the ghost was still floating nearby, his empty eyes watching me with the patience I'm assuming only the undead could have. I narrowed my gaze and flicked my charcoal pencil away from me. It landed on my sketchpad with a dull slapping sound. Jumping to my feet I approached Spot and jabbed a finger in his direction.

            "And what is it exactly that you need my help with? Haven't you haunted enough people to have already gotten what it is you need?"

            Spot made an impatient gesture with his hand and lit another phantom cigarette. Even though I could smell it, when the smoke drifted into my face I couldn't feel it sting my eyes like normal smoke would. I still found myself waving it away.

"Listen buddy if you think I like this situation any more than you do, you're sadly mistaken. I don't find it fun to be antagonized by the soul of a dead late nineteenth century seventeen year old. WHAT…DO…YOU…NEED…ME…TO…DO?" Spot exhaled a cloud of smoke and gave me a sour smile.

            "I asked that same question when I first was told that I had to wander around for eternity unless I could find the help of someone who genuinely cared to come back to my time and make things okay. The only catch is…well," here he musingly stopped and stroked his chin, a sly look I didn't like flitting across his face.

            "There's a few catches, but the main one is that I won't remember you if and when you come to my time to help me. You'll be the only one who knows what's going on and it's your job to help guide me and the others involved. The only thing is, you will only be able to get back through if you have nothing holding you on either side." I gaped at him blankly.

            "Get back through what?"

            "The way that you have to take to get to my time."

            "And what is that?"

            "I'm only going to show you right before you go."

            "Will I have any help? Will you…err your ghost self be there?" Spot shook his head.

            "No, because if you succeed then my ghost self will never have existed."

            "So why can't I have any ties on either side in order to get back here?"

            "It's like this; if you were to decide that for some reason or another that you wished to remain in my time, then your disappearance would have to not make a difference in this time. You'll exist, but you'll exist as if you were born and lived in my time. Am I making any sense?"

            "How the hell do you know all this?"

            "You learn a lot in 105 years. I've been told how to remedy my situation I just haven't found anyone willing to help me out yet."

            "In that many years nobody has ever agreed?"

            "You try haunting people and see how many of 'em don't run away screaming from the mere sight of you. You're actually the first."

            "Lucky me," I drawled, glaring at my feet. I heard a snort of laughter and darted a glance up at Spot, who was laughing at me, a dry hissing sort of laugh that sounded like the rustling of leaves. I shivered, and he stopped, a smirk still lighting his face.

            "You're a riot you know that? That's the newsie name I'd give you if I had a choice." I quirked an eyebrow at him.

            "Newsie name?"

            "Yeah, a newsie name. I'm a newsie; I sell newspapers for a living. We give each other nicknames based on how we look, act or whatever. For instance, I know a Racetrack, who loves to gamble, a Mush, who is all mushy and romantic when it comes to females and well…generally everything. So, what d'you say?"

            To tell you the truth, I was pretty much sold on the idea. I had never felt like I belonged anywhere anyways, and to have the chance to do something so utterly extraordinary such as this would probably never happen again. I pursed my lips and paced back and forth in my room. Spot watched me solemnly, his head turning every so slightly as I'd walk past him. The spark of adventure and excitement was burning deep within me.

            Cocking my head and shooting Spot a small grin, I nodded once before sticking my hand out. Spot's hand passed through mine when he grabbed it, but we nevertheless slowly pumped our hands up and down together in the semblance of a handshake.

            "Okay it's a deal. I just have to take a few days to get ready."

            "Deal," he echoed in a suddenly hollow, eerie voice and excited light smoldering in his eyes. He vanished then, and I finally went to bed, exhausted beyond imagination. My dealings with the dead were already taking a toll on me.

            The next few days were spent pouring over books taken out from the school library on the mannerisms and dress of nineteenth century people. I rented a skirt, blouse, under garments and a pair of boots from a costume shop that specialized in historical outfits. They often supplied clothing to Broadway plays the lady at the counter informed me in a snooty voice. The price damn well reflected it.

            I nervously bombarded Spot with questions as to who I could trust, which neighborhoods not to go alone into, who were the main characters in this wild story I would soon find myself supplanted in. He ticked the answers off using his fingers and I scribbled them down on a piece of paper that would be tucked into my pocket.

            When the morning came that I would embark on this journey I rose early from bed, my nerves already shot. One look out my bedroom window proved it to be a dreary Saturday morning. My mother was at the gym already, working off all of her 'fat'.

Quickly dressing in my borrowed clothing I braided my hair and let it fall down my back. I had taken a bit of plaid fabric from my mother and folded it into a shawl which I draped around my shoulders. Looking in my mirror, I turned and then curtsied, studying myself.

            _Not bad, _I thought before almost being scared out of my wits by Spot suddenly materializing next to me. He gave me a once over and then a thumbs up.

            "That'll do, do you have the key?" I nodded looking down at the cord where the key rested just inside the collar of my blouse, its cold weight reassuring against my chest. I had eaten as much as I could the night before, and this morning, knowing that I couldn't take any twentieth century food or money back with me.

Turning to take one final look around my room, I whispered a prayer to whatever deity it was that was listening and snatched Spot's journal up and secreted it in my skirt pocket. That would no doubt come in useful at some point.

            I wasn't sure exactly where Spot was taking me, and how I would be making the jump between past and present. When I followed his ghostly figure down into our basement, I gulped and almost backed out of this whole crazy affair. Spot gestured to a large object covered with a very dusty, dirty sheet. I pulled the sheet off to reveal a full length mirror, decorated with a very ornate brass backing.

            "Take out my key," Spot instructed. His voice was excited and overly hopeful.

            I obeyed him, and as I looked at the mirror more closely, saw a lock set into the top of the brass. When I looked back at him questioningly, he nodded in response. Taking a deep breath, I lifted a shaking hand and inserted the key. My body instantly felt warm all over and tingly as if I was being electrocuted by a dim current.

            I opened my mouth to shout, but when I shot my eyes over to where Spot's ghost had been, it was turning fuzzy and fading. As a matter of fact, the whole ROOM was turning fuzzy and fading. I tried to let go of the key, but there was a sudden flash of light, as if lightening had struck, and then everything went black.

            When I came to again, I was standing in a basement, in the same exact position as before. A mirror was before me, the same as the one that had been in my basement, although it looked newer. I felt a sensation like someone had poured ice cold water all over me, and I shuddered, blinking. Taking the key out of the mirror, I took a step back and then froze as I heard voices. They were faint, and judging from the thumping noises above me, not in the same room.

            Casting my eyes around me I saw light pouring from a window to my left. The window was narrow, but I could probably fit if I sucked in my stomach. Hearing more thudding noises, I leapt into action, diving for a pile of crates that were stacked haphazardly beneath the window. Clambering up them, I gingerly unlatched the window pane and pushed it out. Then I wriggled with all of my might, head first before grasping at a metal pole just outside the window and hauling myself out.

            When I gasped in some air, and looked around, I saw that I was outside of a nondescript building that resembled my town house, but looked like it had been built only a few years ago. The metal pole that I had used to help myself climb out of the basement was the bottom part of a fire escape that snaked up the side of the narrow house. I was sitting in an alleyway, and the noises coming from the street to my right weren't the sounds of cars and horns. They were the voices of many people, and horse hooves clopping along on…cobblestones?

            Looking down at what I was sitting on I confirmed that fact with a grim smile. I was indeed not in Kansas anymore. It was cool; the season must be the same as when I left in my time, September. Hitching my shawl up so that it covered my shoulders completely, I stood, dusting off my bottom.

            _Well, _I thought to myself; _there's no time like the present to get started. You'll have to get in good with these kids if you're going to accomplish anything._ Squaring my shoulders I peered around a corner of the building my mouth going dry as I looked around at all there was to see, finally realizing that I was indeed in New York City at the turn of the century. There were stalls set up alongside the street, vendors hawking their wares. Women and children walked along dressed in clothing much like mine.

            I could smell salt in the air and knew that I wasn't far off from the East River, and the stalls where fishermen had fish and crabs settled on blocks of ice told me I was right. Horses and carriages rolled by every now and again, and small children dressed in scruffy clothing chased each other out of buildings hollering. I looked up to where a wooden sign swung gently in the air above a door. In faded, gilded paint it read 'Brooklyn Lodging House'. Someone had affixed another sign just below it that read 'Abandon hope all that enter here'. It looked brand new; the ink seemed to shine in the pale sunlight.

            I snorted, and shook my head wondering who would have thought up such a thing. Then I furrowed my brow, trying to come up with a plan as to how I would go about making introductions with this group of kids. From what Spot had told me, they were a hard bunch, all rough and tough and not ones to give trust away freely. This could prove harder than I thought.

            "Well, well, well what do we have here Emotions?" The female voice put my teeth on edge as I whirled around to find myself face to face with two roughly dressed, tough looking, and suspicious girls. One of them, a girl of medium height with auburn colored hair and cool hazel eyes roughly grabbed my chin and tilted my head towards the sunlight that filtered down around the buildings. She had a crude tattoo on her wrist of a 'Y' overlapping an 'N'. Their accents were harsh and very New York.

            "I'm not quite sure, Maple maybe we should take her to Spot and see what he has to say about it." The other girl, Maple nodded her reddish-blonde head and gave me a wicked smile, displaying where one of her side teeth was missing. It gave her a roguish look that I wasn't sure I liked all that much. Her gray eyes were empty, veiled.

            As they each grabbed one of my arms and dragged me along, the only bitter thought that flashed through my head was that maybe it wasn't going to be as hard as I thought to get the ball rolling and have myself introduced.

            Not hard at all.

**A/N – Was this chapter confusing to anyone? I really hope not, I was trying to come up with some plot-builders that I hope didn't make everyone go huh? Namely Spot's explanations about how to help him. I hope that it was okay and everyone liked this chapter. More of your characters will appear in the next one! – A/N**

**Shout Outs!**

**Rissa Lee – Awww geez make me blush! That was a lovely review, thank you so much. No I tend to put humorous parts in my stories, so it's not just you. I'm glad that it is different from what you normally read, that was my hope. Thank you for the profile as well!**

**Irish Flame – Thank you and thanks for your character!**

**Klover -- ::shudders:: I'm sorry you have to go to a convent school. Is it really that bad? Thanks for the character and the review!**

**Emotions – I LOVE cliffhangers. I hate to read 'em but I love to write 'em. ::evil grin:: Hope you like it so far**

**CiCi – Thanks for your profile, I'm going to use it. I hope you like my story whether or not I change the name :P**

**Uninvisible – That's okay; I'm evil and put a CC in here because I knew it would attract more readers who might like my story. I DO need characters though; sometimes it's a pain to come up with original ones on my own. **

**Raeghan – Wow I love your writing, I'm psyched that you're checking out my story! Hope you continue to read it. **

**Nada Zimri – You have seen through to my evil master plan ::rubs hands together and cackles evilly:: I know I said that you could be in the past and present but I wanted to hop, skip and hurry the heck up to the past so I'm just gonna have you in that part. **


	4. Chapter Four

**Author's Note – Not all the characters are introduced in this chapter, so don't despair! If I haven't mentioned you yet it's only because you will show up in the next! ;D  Happy reading!**

            What else could I do in this situation but struggle vainly to get out of the grips of the two newsgirls for I supposed that was what they were, dressed as they were. I cursed myself silently for not paying attention to Spot's litany about the life the street kids led and the clothes that would be the most convenient for me to be in right now. The skirt I was wearing that I had thought would help me blend in, was now hindering my escape.

            The girl that had been addressed as 'Emotions' only tightened her hand around my arm and I clenched my teeth together determined not to yelp. The other one, 'Maple' smirked down at me, her gray eyes lighting at my discomfort. She shook me slightly as I was dragged along, trying to dig my heels into the dirt.

            "Shouldn't be snoopin' around places ya don't belong, girl." I didn't say anything back; I thought that it probably wouldn't be wise of me to do so. But I made sure that she caught the challenging glimmer in my eyes before I hung my head.

            I barely registered where we were heading until I heard the shouts and splashes of many boys. When I lifted my head a little I was rewarded with the sight of about twenty half dressed boys, jumping off of a pier into the brown murky water of the East River. I was greeted with many eyes suddenly assessing me, some leering, others curious. There were females spread out amongst the crates and barrels on the pier, there eyes were nothing but shuttered or openly hostile. They were all dressed like their comrades, Maple and Emotions and they all had the wary, watchful air about them like alley cats.

            I was frog-marched down the pier, my boots making dull slapping noises that echoed louder than the leather of their worn in shoes. When they finally came to a stop in front of a pile of crates, I lifted my chin and narrowed my eyes squinting in the sudden burst of sunlight as it came from behind a cloud. The boy who lounged against a crate near the top of the pile wasn't very tall. He was definitely taller than me, but probably no more than 5'6 or 5'7.

            I felt my mouth thin into a line as I blinked the sunlight out of my eyes and recognized the one and only Spot Conlon, although he was very much alive. The same familiar smirk graced his narrow face, and I could finally see how blue his eyes were and that his hair was more of a dirty blonde than true blonde.

            He wore a tattered, dirty red and white checkered shirt that hung open around his neck to reveal an equally filthy undershirt and a key that hung on a black string. I hissed in a breath when I realized that I no longer had my key hanging around my own neck. For a minute I considered my options, frantically drawing in short, jerky breaths, my knees growing weak.

            How was I supposed to get home if the key was back in his possession in this era? What if I never managed to get it away from him? It was then that a girl sat up from where she had been laying on some crates neatly arranged so as to form a bench of sorts. She had dark red hair and bluish-green eyes.  She wore a white blouse, the sleeves rolled up around her skinny elbows, and gray knickers with dirty green socks pulled up and secured around her knees. Her boots were battered and covered with dust. Shoving long bangs out of her face, she stood up and walked over to me, her face unreadable before grabbing my arm and jerking me out of the clutches of Emotions and Maple. Steering me over to the crates, she ordered me to sit down and stick my head as far between my knees as it would go.

            "Don't you know when a girl is havin' a fit?" she gently chastised my captors. Both girls sheepishly shrugged and grinned, the change in their demeanor so rapid that I nearly lost it again right there. The new girl kept an iron grip clamped against the back of my head, and I stayed in that position until I felt my sight swim from all the blood rushing to my head. She finally released me, allowing me to sit up straight slowly.

            When I did so, I found most of the girls surrounding me, the boys on the dock out of the water now, but trying not to pay attention. Apparently this was the girl's work, when dealing with a strange female. I hadn't even bothered to stop and think about the hierarchy of gang life.  There was a loud thump and I looked up into amused blue eyes.

"Care to explain what's goin' on?" I opened my mouth to reply before I realized that he was addressing Maple and Emotions. Emotions was leaning up against a pillar, nonchalantly cleaning her nails with a switchblade. Waving the knife in my general direction, she then wiped it on her dingy brown pants and tucked it into her belt underneath a fold of her long sleeved blue shirt. I was confused by this girl, she had an open, friendly face with pink cheeks and a freckled nose, but her demeanor towards me was suspicious and aggressive.

"Found her over by the lodging house, crouchin' down near the basement window. Figured we'd bring her here and make sure she ain't a spy or anythin'." The red haired girl was amused as well, but she didn't bother to hide it. Grinning openly she fingered the skirt I was wearing and winked at Emotions.

"In these kind of clothes a spy? A spy for who I wonder?" Emotions flushed and eyed the girl angrily. The girl held up her hands in a placating gesture and smiled, this time making her expression playful and not as mocking.

"You know I'm only kiddin' around right doll?" When Emotions begrudgingly nodded, the girl stuck her hand out in front of my face, right after spitting into it. Spot, well ghost Spot's voice echoed in my ears; "shake hands with anybody ESPECIALLY if they spit into it". Taking his advice, I clasped her hand solidly into my own, pumping it up and down after I added a few flecks of my own spittle, although my mouth was almost too dry to come up with anything.

I saw the red haired girl's eyes begin to change, growing less suspicious of me and friendlier with that gesture. Spot was watching the girl with a fondness in his eyes that was quickly masked when he saw me looking at him curiously. I wanted to see how the two Spot's differed. Swaggering over to me, he grasped my chin in-between dirty fingers and turned my face this way and that.

"Too girly, don't have much use for ya here. Maybe Manhattan will take ya. That is unless you already have somewhere to go?" When I shook my head, dumbfounded, he snorted and stuffing his hands into his pockets gave the red haired girl a secretive, sweet smile and asked her to take me to Manhattan.

"Take someone else with ya Cinder; I don't want nothin' to happen." My head jerked around towards the red haired girl and my eyes widened. So that was Cinder, the object of my visit here. Well the first of my goals, to get noticed by the newsies had occurred. Now I had to get to know them. Cinder cast her eyes about and finally pointed at a girl who stood no higher than 5'4. The girl's dark brown eyes widened slightly in surprise, but she shook her jaggedly cut blonde hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ears since it fell no further than her chin.

Trudging forward, I was struck by how skinny the girl was. She wasn't emaciated, but nor was she a healthy weight for her height either. Her pants were baggy and kept slipping although she wore a pair of suspenders slung over her shoulders. The only other thing she had on was long underwear that I supposed counted as a shirt.

We started walking, and I shot a look over my shoulder to see Spot watching us with a brooding look on his face, along with a boy who was taller and broad shouldered with black hair and blue eyes. Beside them stood Emotions and Maple, their arms crossed over their chests, jaws tight with disapproval.

Not much was said as we wound our way through the crowded and dirty streets of Brooklyn. I was trying to get used to the fact that I was in the past. I was used to the noise, and the masses of people, but not the smells or seeing the young children silently watching all around them, or huddled under newspaper in the shadows of alleyways. There were factories here as well, gushing billows of black smoke. The police here were different too. Some were quick to do the law, but as we walked I noticed more than a few talking with well dressed men in a shady manner.

The girl with the chin-length hair noticed my rapt expression as I gazed around me and she leaned forward to speak into my ear so that I could hear her.

"You're not from New York are ya?" When I shook my head no, she shocked me by suddenly sniffing my sleeve, then my shoulder, and then my hair before leaning back and smiling to herself.

"Nope you definitely don't smell like nothin' around here. You smell like…flowers. But a kind I can't think of." I groaned inwardly remembering that I had used Herbal Essence shampoo to wash my hair before I had left. The girl eyed me for a few moments more before jerking a thumb towards her chest.

"They call me Sprite, what's your name?"

"Lily." The girl made a face before shrugging.

"That'll do though most of us don't use our real names. That's your real name huh?" When I nodded she nodded back in confirmation before sticking her hands into her pockets and walking alongside me, quiet once more. Cinder lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply, offering me one. I smoked occasionally when I felt like it, and I was so tense that now seemed like a good time. Taking one out of her hand, I bent my head slightly so she could light it with a match.

The three of us continued on our way, walking along wrapped up in our thoughts. By the time we reached Manhattan, my feet were sore and I was limping slightly cursing the 1900's and their lack of sneakers. Casting my mind back to conversations with Spot, I corrected myself. If I had gone back to the year he had died, then it was still 1899.

Manhattan seemed if not just as busy as Brooklyn, different. The smell of the river was no longer prominent, and there were more well-dressed people around. Cinder and Sprite continued on, until Cinder's face broke into a grin and she suddenly accosted a short Italian looking boy with slicked back black hair and a stogie hanging out of the corner of his mouth.

"'Ey Racetrack, what's shakin'?" The boy stuck his thumbs into his vest and puffed his chest out slightly before grinning and with a twinkle in his eye returned the greeting.

"Oh you know not much. What's the news with you girlies?" Cinder pointed in my direction and I felt my cheeks redden slightly as the boy looked me up and down before taking his hat off and bowing shortly.

"Emotions and Maple found 'er hidin' round the lodging house, Spot figured he'd send her here. Does Silver have anymore room?" Racetrack nodded before spitting out some tobacco and replacing his cigar stub.

"Silver always has room, not too many girls want to get up at the asscrack of dawn to sell papes with us hooligans." Both Cinder and Sprite gave him fond smiles and I assumed that this boy was quite the character. Racetrack then went on to pester them with news about Emotions and was only satisfied when both girls assured him that she was fine.

Just then a short girl with long dark reddish-brown hair came sidling out of an alleyway, a black bowler hat tilted to hide her eyes, hair pooling around and down her shoulders and back. She wore a red long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to reveal pale skin speckled with what looked like scars here and there. Black pants were held up with dark gray suspenders and her shoes were dark brown.

"Misery!" Racetrack whistled and the girl started before looking in our direction. Greenish-hazel eyes were slightly hidden in the shadows of the brim of her hat, and she had a bruise on her narrow chin. Her appearance was altogether rather elfin and if it wasn't for her obviously dark mood she would probably be quite enchanting. Scowling, Misery joined us, looking at her feet as she walked up.

"You okay kid?" The girl turned a brief look in Racetrack's direction before I saw the ghost of a smile hover around her lips. Nodding, she shook Cinder's hand and then Sprite's before pausing and regarding me with a face full of distrust.

"This is Lily," Sprite said, pushing me forward. Misery watched me for a few seconds longer, her eyes taking in my skirt, blouse, shoes, everything. Raising an eyebrow she snorted and started walking down the street, waving a hand over her shoulder for me to follow her. Casting a nervous look at the other three, I shrugged, smiled briefly at Sprite, and followed Misery.

Following Misery was rather difficult. For having such short legs, she moved very quickly and dodged around people like a ping pong ball. I followed the short girl by watching her bowler hat, for there was a bright crimson ribbon tied around the band of it. She finally stopped in front of a building that looked worse for wear. A sign outside proclaimed it to be a 'Newsgirls Lodging House of Manhattan', est. 1899. Misery grabbed the door handle and swung open the door, bowing at the waist and giving me a smile as I walked inside. It wasn't a particularly friendly smile, but I ignored her.

The animated chattering of girl's voices stopped immediately at my entrance and I was embarrassed as I found myself to be the object of attention. An older girl, tall, with a broad, friendly face rose from behind a desk where she had had her feet propped up, chair leaning against the wall. She had silvery blonde hair cut in a bob, a cabby hat tucked into her back pocket. Giving me the first welcoming look I had received since I had gone back to the past, she stuck out her hand and shook my own.

"Hey there, I'm Silver Gagnon, what's your name?"

"Lily, Lily Reese."

"Well Lily, what brings you here?" At this, Misery spoke up, a cigarette sticking out of her mouth slightly muffling her speech. Her voice was slightly scratchy and deep, but oddly calming and totally out of place with her petite frame.

"Spot sent her along, Cinder and Sprite brought her. Says they found her up near the lodging house in Brooklyn and figured you'd take her in. Probably has nowhere to go or if she does don't want to be there." Silver smiled gently at the brusque girl and waved her away pointing towards a window. Misery gave her a short smile that lit her face up like sunshine parting rain clouds before sitting in a chair and hanging the hand that held the cigarette out the window.

"Well rent is ten cents a week, paid on Sunday afternoons. If you don't have it, you better have a damn good reason why or you're out. We have plenty of free bunks, but no one gets their own room. Unless you're Spot, but he runs Brooklyn in a strict dictatorship.  I'm going to take a wild stab here and say you don't have any money?" I nodded in affirmation and she gave me a kind smile and ushered me towards a book sitting on the desk.

"I didn't think so, most newcomers don't. Here, sign on this line if you can't write, make an 'X' or whatever other squiggle you feel like. After that I'll have Tiggey here show you to an empty bunk although it doesn't look like you have any stuff to put away. You're about Misery's height, so I'm sure she wouldn't mind giving you some pants and suspenders to wear, if you're primarily going to be selling papers for a start then it's better to dress like the boys."

Here Silver paused, and looking around selected a tall, slim yet curvy girl who walked forward, her posture perfect. She had shoulder-length auburn hair and odd colored eyes. They looked like they matched from far away but as she got closer you could see that one was blue and the other was a darker violet. I was almost reminded of a character from one of my favorite movies 'Jareth the Goblin King' from 'The Labyrinth' for her face had a quality about her that was almost other-worldly.  She wore a dark green skirt and a pale blue blouse.

I quirked up an eyebrow at sight of this girl; she didn't fit in with some of the other rough and tumble characters I had met so far. I was disinclined to believe that she worked as a newspaper seller.

"This is Irish, Irish; Lilly." We shook hands and Irish waited to hear what Silver had to say. The taller, older girl was putting on a coat and slapping her cap open with a hand, trying to get it into its normal shape after it had been sitting in her back pocket. Putting it on, she stuck both fingers into her mouth and gave a shrill whistle.

"I'm going to talk to Jack; Irish is in charge while I'm gone. Don't bother the new girl too much, and above all, for Christ's sakes BEHAVE while I'm away. I'll be back in less than half an hour."

With that, Silver Gagnon strode out of the lodging house and I found myself suddenly surrounded by a crowd of chattering, excited girls. Raising my eyes to the heavens as they dragged me to a table with chairs scattered about it and sat me down; I cursed Spot Conlon's soul and settled in for a rather intense game of Twenty Questions.

**SHOUT OUTS**

****

****

****

**Just Duck – Hehe yay you reviewed! I'll awnser all your questions in this review. I don't know Klover, ershey, or any of those other girls on FFnet and they didn't send in a CC so no I won't be using them. You did give me an idea though, so I'm going to use Misery but not in the same context as 'Under My Thumb'.  I didn't know Maple was already a character I thought I had made that one up. ::guilty face::**

**Your right Lily's ghost could have been MUCH worse than Spot Conlon, hehee…The casting call is still somewhat open, you can be a newsie if you want I don't know how much more of a call I'll have for ghosts, but you never know. If you want to be in my story and you really want to be one, then send me your profile and I'll put ya in.**

**Nada Zimri -- ::gets tackled:: wheee! Yah it stinks when computer's are on the fritz and all that stuff.**

**Onesongofglory – Wow now THAT was an awesome compliment, thank you so much. I hope I can do your praise justice!**

**Uninvisible – Thank you so much, I'm trying to! :D**

**Southern Spell – Yeah it's meant to be a little sad I think. Also when I said that Spot won't remember her, I meant that the real life Spot she met wouldn't know who she was although his ghost had already met her. Ack. Does that make sense?**

**Cici – Yeah I knew you were joking,  hehe… There's plenty more new characters were the ones in this chapter came from!**

**Emotions – Yay I'm so glad that I got your character right, I'm always afraid that I never manage to capture someone's profile. Let me know if I ever do anything that is out of character so I can fix it. **

**Raeghann – Lily is basically there to help change Spot's future or lack thereof. She is going to end up having a little bit more to do with some of their lives than just being a bystander sent back to try to stop certain things from happening though.  **


	5. Chapter Five

            **A/N – Hiya everybody sorry it took me so long! I do not own Newsies that movie is owned by Disney. And as for the characters in the story I own Misery, Silver, Lily, and Action. I do not own Sprite she is owned by Nada Zimri, Tiggey is owned by CiCi, Emotions is owned by Emotions, Jazz is owned by Irish Flame, Irish is owned by Klover, Hyena is owned by Uninvisible, Honey is owned by Onesongofglory and that should be it. Whew, hope you guys enjoy this and I REALLY hope I did your character's justice. – A/N**

            I was suddenly very uncomfortable as I was plunked down at a table and assessed by many pairs of eyes. The girl in charge, Irish, leaned forward and traced a design on the table's surface with a dirty finger.

            "What's your name?" This question was thrown at me by a girl who was sitting in a backwards chair, her arms crossed over the front. She had black hair that fell in locks around her shoulders and green eyes that danced merrily at me. I was slightly, ah hell I was more than slightly taken aback at the openness of these girls. Their attitudes differed greatly from Brooklyn's. Although the Misery girl sitting by the open window brooding would have fit in Brooklyn very well.

            "Lily Reese," I answered. The girl with the bright green eyes nodded and hitched up one of her suspenders that kept falling off of her shoulders. She wore a blue shirt over a white wife beater and dark brown pants. She also had a black cabby hat that had seen better days cocked to one side on her head.

            "I'm Tiggey, most people call me Tig." Tiggey began beating her hands in a loud, fast manner on the tabletop until a girl sitting next to her with straight blonde hair and green, green eyes gently put a hand out and stopped her. This girl was slightly tan with freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks and was slim, albeit curvy. She had on a long black skirt and a shirt the color of fresh cream with the sleeves rolled up past her elbows. She wore a necklace with a little cross dangling off of the chain, which was unusual most of the girls wore no jewelry at all.

            "I'm Jazz," the girl said softly in a musical voice with a French accent. I nodded at her and she gave me a slight smile, inclining her head. I was confused by the fact that none of the people I had met gave me Christian names, they all had nicknames. Why was this? Spot had told me that kids used nicknames to help fit in on the streets and also in most cases to hide their identities from the authorities.

            Tiggey was battering the table with her hands again but Misery growled something half-unintelligible at her which caused the girl to grimace and stop. The girl sitting next to Jazz began to howl with laughter, and didn't stop for at least five minutes. I thought she might pass out, for when she did manage to stop she was red in the face and gasping for breath. Skinny, with short dark hair and dark brown eyes, she was of Asian descent and wore a motley assortment of clothing that really didn't seem to match. Very large dark pants, a checkered vest over a dark gray shirt that didn't look like it fit very well and a derby hat that also looked too big for her head.

            "That's Hyena; we gave her a rather fitting name hmm?" Hyena raised an eyebrow at Irish and gave her a rather superior look that would have made me itch to slap her, although Irish just smirked back. Another girl breezed in as we sat there, with honey colored hair, a skinny build, grayish, light green-hazel eyes. She cast a curious look over at us, but distrust flashed across her pale, freckled face and she ended up leaning against the wall near Misery, giving the girl a fond smile.

            I would later find out that she and Misery were rather close because of their over-usage of sarcasm to deal with things. They were also highly distrustful of people and very strong-willed. Basically there were few people who could crack Misery's shell; Honey and Silver were two of them.

            "That girl is Honey, standin' next to Misery." Tiggey breathed into my ear. I nodded and sat back in my chair. I wasn't sure what was going to happen next, but was saved when Irish took a pocket watch out of her skirt pocket and gasped in shock.

            "Hyena, Jazz! We're late for Medda's we have to fly." The other two girls echoed her cry of distress and together they all but dashed for the door, flinging it open and racing out into the streets of Manhattan. I could see that the sky was turning a golden color as late afternoon set in. Misery rose and stomped to the door, kicking it shut with her booted foot.

            "Let me show you your room, okay?" Tiggey tugged at my sleeve and hefted me up. I had no choice but to follow her across the sparse room and up a flight of stairs that led to narrow hallway that opened up into a medium sized room full of cots. Apparently, as Tiggey informed me they weren't able to get their hands on any bunk beds so Silver had resorted to the next best thing.

            Ten cots lined one side of the room and adjacent to them on the opposite wall was a row of hooks with clothing hanging off of it. The last three cots were empty as were their corresponding hooks. Tiggey hollered down to Misery who clomped up the stairs and eyeing me up and down went to one of the hooks and yanked down a pair of black pants and a sage green long sleeved shirt. Throwing them at me, her mouth crooked up in a malicious smile as they hit my head.

            "Go to Hell," I spat at her as I rolled the clothing up into a ball and threw it onto a cot, putting my hands on my hips. The other girl's eyebrows were raised in surprise and all of a sudden she broke into a dazzling grin. Winking at me, she rummaged around in a dresser and threw some suspenders at me and disappeared. Tiggey let out a breath that she had apparently been holding in.

            "Don't mess with that girl; she ain't right in the head." I shrugged and told Tiggey about my experiences with bullies, trying hard to not add anything in that might give me away from being from the future. Tiggey seemed to like my stories although she was hard-pressed to sit still; she constantly was walking around and tapping her thighs with rapidly flying fingers. Tiggey began telling me about her boyfriend Mush, one of the Manhattan Newsies.

            I couldn't help but feel a very strong sense of déjà vu as I sat on my cot, and Tiggey sprawled on hers, gushing over this boy and how handsome he was, how strong, and how sweet and nice. It wasn't long before Misery, Honey, and Silver who had apparently returned, came upstairs.

            "So how old are you?" I swiveled my head around to look at Misery. Honey was lounging on the same cot as her, and Misery was smoking another cigarette much to the chagrin of Silver who was clearing her throat and aiming a shoe to throw at the younger girl.

            "Seventeen."

            "Inconceivable." I started with shock and looked at Honey who only gazed back calmly. I was informed that the girl spat out words here and there that had nothing to do with whatever anybody was talking about.

            "How long you been in the City?"

            "A day." The girls all looked at each other and I saw sympathy in their gazes. Misery finally got Silver's hint and put her cigarette out onto her bedside table, grinding it into the wood. 

            "So what did Jack have to say?" Silver shrugged and flopped down onto her bed. She muttered something about how selling spots were going to have to be rearranged that afternoon, when suddenly a bell began tolling. The girls all stood up, and filed out of the room, Silver staying behind while I hurriedly changed into Misery's clothes. Flipping me a spare cap, she told me to tie my hair up with a piece of string and put the hat on. I did as she instructed and followed her out the door, where the other girls waited on the street corner.

            "What's going on?" Silver lit a cigarette and grinned at me. Misery and Honey sauntered up ahead, their tough girl walks slightly amusing with one so short and the other so skinny. Tiggey skipped along, chattering non-stop, that Silver was trying to pay attention to.

            "Afternoon edition of 'The World' is out. We peddle newspapers. We're going to meet up with the boys at the D.C.; Distribution Center and buy our papes and then sell 'em. Usually after that we all hang out at the Duane Street Lodging House where the boy's live and then come home, sleep and do it all again the next day." My stomach rumbled loudly and clearly and everyone laughed in a friendly way at me, even Misery. I began to feel comfortable for the first time all day as we walked through the streets, my eyes large and my neck sore from me constantly whipping around to look at some historical wonder.

            I couldn't believe that I had managed to make it back in time. Next on my list was to become friends with both Spot and Cinder and to monitor their relationship. Ghost Spot would be freed from wandering the Earth in his afterlife if Cinder didn't die due to his mistakes. Hearing boy's voices and scuffling, we were almost bowled over by a gang of little boys waving wooden swords around and wearing newspaper hats on their heads.

            Tiggey clapped her hands and immediately joined in, the boys clamoring to welcome her. She was obviously a favorite with them, and played with them often for she seemed to have a wooden sword of her own, although she was older than all of them. The older boys lounged against a black iron gate beyond the pack of hollering children. Smiles grew on some of their faces as different boys stepped forward and corralled different girls, slinging dirty arms around their necks and kissing cheeks.

            Honey was taken by a slender, Spanish looking boy with dusky skin and black hair and eyes, who had a nice smile. I assumed that Mush was the boy with curly brown hair and the body of a Greek God who was watching Tiggey play with the little boys, a grin on his face.  I saw a change come over Misery as a tall boy with brown hair that flopped into one eye and a red cloth tied around his neck, walk over and put his hand on her shoulder. He had a good-looking face and brown eyes, his smile was kind and he wore a yellow shirt with a brown vest, and brown pants.

            Misery ducked her head down and was actually blushing as the boy talked to her, he repeatedly made sure to touch her in some manner whether it was chucking her under the chin, stroking her hair, or holding her hand. It reminded me of back in Vermont, watching my Uncle Sam tame one a colt that needed to be broken in for riding. The more skittish and wild the animal was, the gentler my Uncle treated it.

            "Pie Eater is the only one that can touch Misery, we haven't figured out why but we're pretty sure it's because he's so calm with her." Silver was at my elbow, dropping her cigarette onto the ground and grinding it out with the heel of her shoe.

            "What about you do you have anybody?" Silver's eyes took on a faraway look and she shrugged, waving a hand in a dismissing gesture.

            "Yeah I did, he's the leader of the Bronx now though. I don't get to see him anymore." Just then a self-assured, handsome boy with a red cloth tied around his neck like Pie Eater's and a black cowboy hat hanging down his back sauntered up. He and Silver spat into their hands and shook, before the boy gave me a crooked smile.

            "Lily, this is Jack Kelly but everybody calls him 'Cowboy'. Cowboy this is Lily, the new girl." Jack made a face and shook his head, before nodding at me and bending at the waist slightly.

            "She really needs a nickname, won't do to be causing any trouble with her real name being used. You on the run from anybody dollface?" I bristled at the overly-familiar endearment before a sickly looking thin boy with shaggy brown hair leapt onto Jack screaming about Tiggey chasing him. Jack flipped the boy off of him and ruffled his hair fondly, telling the boy that he'd help him.

            "Go hide Les, I'll stall her." The little boy Les took off once more, and Jack grabbed Tiggey as she raced by, throwing her into the arms of her boyfriend Mush. Tiggey quickly forgot about chasing Les and I laughed as the bell clanged again and the gate opened. Kids immediately began jostling each other for a position in line, and I found myself pressed up against Silver and the short Italian boy Racetrack.

            It was about this time that I realized I had no money. Panicking I turned to tell Silver, when I heard her ordering the timid looking man behind the iron grill of the distribution window to spot her thirty papers. The man nodded and jotted something down into his book before she came and found me, dropping the papers into my arms and guiding me down the ramp to a pair of barrels.

            "Okay now we have a short lesson. Number one, you need to be good at lying in order to survive selling newspapers. Nobody will buy a paper from you if you don't yell loud enough or make up crazy headlines. For instance;" here she ripped a paper open and I saw her eyes dart about, searching. Her eyebrows relaxed and a smile curved her lips as she beckoned me to lean over, her dirty finger pointing out a story about a mysterious illness.

            "Stuff like this, war, famine, murders, anything unhappy people eats up. Sometimes you get happy stories, mostly women buy those papers. You get to know your customers pretty well and can guess what they'd want to read about. Bankers will buy papers if you hawk headlines about financial ruin. Union workers will read stories about strikes, business men foreign affairs, so on and so forth. You getting' all this?" I nodded in a slightly dazed manner. My stomach was painfully rumbling now, I was starving.

            Silver clapped me on the shoulder and we stood up, not before she frowned, noticing that I was surreptitiously rubbing my stomach looking pained. Telling me that she'd get me something to eat as we walked, we started out, Silver calling out greetings and introducing me to people as we left the D.C. I met guys with the names Kid Blink, Crutchy, Snoddy, Skittery, Itey, Dutchy, Specs, Snipeshooter, Jake, and Boots, so on and so forth. My mind was reeling and I was beginning to feel nauseous.

            Then we were on the streets, and I swallowed. I was about to find out if I would sink or swim as a Manhattan newsie.

**Shout Outs**

**Nada Zimri – Haha…I loved that trait that you chose for your character. I sniff everything all the time. I even always usually sniff my food before I eat it too. Don't worry about Lily, not everyone is going to be mean to her. :D**

**Uninvisible --- Psh, I'm content to merely have you review the length isn't anything to worry about. Frog marching is basically when you grab someone's arm and twist it behind their back and with the victim in front of you, you force them to walk ahead of you at an awkward angle, most of the time causing them to walk bow-legged or frog-like. **

**Raeghann**** – I don't think I did the 'twenty questions' bit too much justice. I'm so glad you liked it! From what I've read of your stories I think you do a damn good job with not glossing over the poverty. I'm glad the story is still intriguing that's always one of my greatest fears that I'll muddle things up half-way through and either lose steam or just erase the whole thing.**

**Lady of Tir Na Nog – Ahhh Tir Na Nog, home of the Tuatha de Danaan. I like that penname. Yay I'm glad you like it and I'm glad I got Irish's character down, that made me happy to hear. Hope you like this newest chap**

**CiCi – Oh yes, I think Tiggey will be very good friends with Lily, she needs someone like Tiggey to be a friend to her. I hope I did okay with how I wrote Tiggey in this chapter, let me know!**

**Emotions – Nevah feah Lily is heah! Spot and Cinder's relationship is definitely going to be something else. I'm psyched that I'm doing a good job with your character, that's always a nice thing to hear. :D**

**Just Duck – Hah no, tossing people into the river is definitely a Spot/Misery thing to do. I think I'll give them a punching bag for when they all start PMS'ing at the same time. That would be a good thing to for them eh? I'd still like to use Duck in my story if you send me your profile. It really wouldn't be an inconvenience to me, and I didn't get THAT many responses to my CC. **

**I've read some of Ershey's stuff and have seen in her in other fics and Klover is making an appearance in this story. Yay I got a Duck to do a happy dance! :::does the Snoopy shuffle:::   Hope you like this update too! **


	6. Chapter Six

"Here Lily;" Silver paid the vendor and handed me a paper cone full of hot peanuts. I began wolfing them down, barely stopping to rip the salty nuts out of their shells. I didn't mind that they were so hot, they tasted delicious. Licking oil off of my fingers, I looked up to find Silver and another girl who had just arrived staring at me.

"What?" I snapped irritably. It had been ages since I'd eaten, Silver knew that. She merely laughed and slapped a hand onto my back before turning to the other girl. Crossing her arms and arching an eyebrow, she looked the girl up and down.

"Yeah?" the girl shot at her with the same tone of voice that I had used, causing me to crack a grin. Silver merely raised her other eyebrow and the girl cast a sheepish grin. She was tall, of average weight and wore a grimy white shirt, black suspenders hanging by her sides and dark pants. A charcoal colored newsboy cap was tilted on her head revealing slightly pointed ears that I stared at briefly.

She had green eyes and reddish brown hair that I could see was in a mass of braids coiled around her head.

"Where you been Duck? In Brooklyn?" I crooked a small grin at the name 'Duck'. The girl looked at me appraisingly and snorted. I blushed and scuffed the ground with my shoe.

"Yeah, you know I go home to stay for part of the week Silver." Silver nodded but apparently that answer didn't appease her for she kept darting Duck sidelong glances until the tomboyish girl threw her hands up into the air and growled.

"Alright, alright! I was in the Bronx too okay? I saw Grim and I also saw Flint and he asked about you." Silver's cheeks turned a pretty rose color and I deduced that Flint must be the leader of the Bronx and the boy she had been interested in.

"Who's the skirt?" I looked down then remembered I had changed and I was wearing pants now. Duck was looking at me expectantly and Silver introduced us. I asked her about her nickname to which she turned red, hemmed-and hawed and then said it was from her klutzy nature.

"You know, run hide duck for cover here comes Kathryne! My family gave it to me actually, my brother Seamus the jerk." She said this with a fond grin and shake of her head. I was slightly jealous of that, and wondered if my mother noticed me gone.

"Where do you live then? In Manhattan?" Duck shook her head and I noticed a dog-eared dime novel stuck in her back pocket. So the girl liked to read hmm? We started walking again as she told me that she lived in Brooklyn and sold there most of the time because people pitied the girl newsies more in that borough. It was a tougher neighborhood so it was assumed that any girl who would sell papers for a living had to be VERY down on their luck.

"Do you know Cinder?" Duck paused after selling a newspaper to a wealthy looking gentleman. I offered a paper to a woman walking by with a small child and she shied away from me although an elderly couple bought a paper from me right after. Silver had wandered away a ways to try her luck further up the street. Duck tucked her papers underneath her arm and looked at me.

"Yeah I know her; I sell mainly in Brooklyn so I see her pretty often. Why you interested in becoming a Brooklyn newsie?" I bit my lip and thought for a minute. Maybe that would be…easier in a sense. But then again I didn't want to totally leave the one borough that had welcomed me.

"Well maybe a part-time Brooklyn newsie." Duck nodded in understanding before pursing her lips.

"It's too bad that you're a girl, Spot only really likes it when boy newsies join up. Although you being a girl will help out with the two-borough loyalty. He expects total loyalty out of his boy newsies." We walked along some more, me musing silently, letting Duck sell the rest of my papers. She gave me a weird look when I handed them to her, and when they were all gone she pressed a handful of change into my palm and waved my protests away.

"First day bad luck is all. I'm sure tomorrow your mind will be more on the job." It was almost a warning as much as a reassurance. When I told Duck about Spot's comment about me being too 'girlie' to make it in Brooklyn she snorted and shook her head.

"He always says that, said it to Cinder the first time he met her although to see how he treats her now you'd think she hung the moon. Totally mush-minded over that broad." I must have given her an eager look for she laughed and began telling me about how gaa-gaa the leader of Brooklyn was over Cinder. We almost didn't notice a third girl approaching us until she was nearly standing on Duck's foot.

"Bookworm!" Duck welcomed the girl with a smile and a wink. Bookworm smiled back and hauled a package of books tied together with a string out of a gunnysack she had slung over her shoulder. Duck leapt up and down, and hugged the books to her chest.

"You remembered!" she squealed in joy. I found myself smiling openly at the pair; I'd get along just fine with them if they loved to read this much because I did too. Bookworm turned to me and we shook hands after Duck introduced us. Bookworm wore her long brown hair tied up in a pony-tail underneath a black bandanna tied around her head. I thought she was a gypsy at first, with her hair-rag and the thick hoop earrings she wore but apparently she wasn't.

Bookworm was also dressed like a boy, but her white shirt was laced up the front with strings and underneath I saw that she wore a black wife beater. Brown pants and black boots completed the outfit, and she had a grayish newsboy cap tucked into her back pocket. Clear blue eyes regarded me in a friendly manner although they had a tint of a hidden sadness behind the outward cheerfulness. I wondered what had happened to her in her past.

"Bookworm's a Brooklyn newsie with me," Duck informed me. I gave them a hopeful look and picked at the cuff of Misery's sleeve. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad staying in Brooklyn part time if I had these two there. I wasn't sure that I'd be able to get any of the other kids to like me. Silver sauntered up just then and I started blabbing to her about how I thought that it might be a good idea for me to split my time up between Brooklyn and Manhattan. She said that it was alright with her, just as long as I paid my rent when I stayed in Manhattan to keep my bed open.

"Why are you so dead set on being a Brooklyn newsie?" Duck asked me as we headed back the way we had come, towards the girl's lodging house. I scrambled for an answer and couldn't come up with one that I liked so I just shrugged and gave her a shy smile and shook my head. Duck eyed me for a minute or two before giving me a sassy, albeit rueful smile.

"Ah shit you don't have a thing for Conlon do ya? He's nuts over Cinder, you don't stand a chance if that's what you're aiming at." I felt heat flood my face and darted sidelong glances at Silver and Bookworm who were smiling at me sympathetically. Deciding that maybe that was the perfect cover for my true intentions, I just kicked at a pebble and pretended to look disappointed.

"Really? Well a girl can dream can't she?" Silver nodded as did Bookworm. Duck rubbed her chin and then began listing all the unattached Brooklyn newsies that I should focus on instead of Conlon.

"Ooo, we could set her up with Flask, he's got beee-uuu-tiful eyes dontcha think Bookworm?" Bookworm shot Duck an unreadable look and I got the impression that perhaps Bookworm had first dibs on this Flask character. Saying good-bye to Silver, the three of us headed towards Brooklyn where I'd plead my case before the almighty Conlon.

It was growing dark when we got back to Brooklyn. The dying rays of the sun were being chased away by the night sky. I watched the glowing tip of my cigarette as we strode quickly along, Bookworm and Duck chattering about the books they had both finished recently, me nervous about Spot's decision. I was slightly surprised then embarrassed when we turned down a side street just before the entrance to the docks. For some reason I thought we'd be heading there, but then I remembered the lodging house.

Light spilled out from the open doorway, along with rough voices, laughter and snatches of conversation. There was a group of kids standing outside smoking who eyed us as we walked up, their talking dying down as they strained their eyes in the dimming light to see if they knew us. One was the girl Emotions and she scowled at me as I approached. Pointing at me with a cigarette (A/N – Does Emotions smoke? It wasn't in the profile but I put it in the story just because. Let me know if that's okay) she exhaled furiously.

"What the hell is she doing here? Didn't Spot tell ya he didn't need ya around here?" I felt my anger swelling in my chest and I was ready to cry or lash out. I was tired of these hardened, bitter street kids. I felt Bookworm put a hand on my sleeve. Some of these girls weren't as suspicious of people as others, I had already formed connections with Bookworm, Duck, and some of the Manhattan girls but these other Brooklyn girls would prove to be harder nuts to crack.

"She wants to sell in Brooklyn, Emotions. She wants to be a floater and she's got just as much right to ask him as anybody else. Ya don't even know her Emotions." The other girl snorted and flicked her cigarette away from her with a violent gesture but I noticed that her expression had changed slightly. Obviously Duck's words had struck a chord with her and I assumed it was the whole fact that I DID have a right to ask Conlon and Emotions knew it. I ventured a small smile in her direction as we walked past and the girl nodded at me, a vast improvement I must say.

Feeling more hopeful, we entered the building and were almost immediately assaulted by two small blurs of raggedy clothing leaping onto Bookworm. Bookworm staggered back but the look on her face was happy. Confused, I waited until the two blobs revealed themselves to be two small twin boys about six years old. Chattering excitedly at her, she moved away to sit in an overstuffed chair, the stuffing falling out of a large rip on the side. Duck steered me along out of the lobby down a narrow, dark hallway lit with a few sputtering gas lamps on the walls.

"Those are some of the younger newsies, Hide and Seek." I grinned at their newsie names, it was adorable beyond belief. Duck grinned back and giggled slightly.

"Bookworm named them; she's a favorite with all the little ones. She loves the children, always looks after them. If they get hurt or picked on they go to her and she takes care of it the best she can." I nodded and looked around as we continued on. The hallway opened up into another large room. Off to the right was the staircase that I assumed led upstairs, and a swinging door that Duck told me led to a small kitchen. A battered door at the far end led outside to the small postage stamp sized backyard. This room had a large table with many chairs scattered around it, crates, a small fireplace and a moth-eaten large braided rug sprawled across the wooden floor. It was occupied by the rest of the Brooklyn contingency.

Boys played poker at the table, and some sat on crates near a wall throwing a pair of dented dice against it, a small pile of bills and coins littering the floor. Some smaller children had drawn a chalk circle in one corner and were playing marbles. A few girls were gathered on a long, dull colored couch gossiping and smoking. I saw Duck longingly gazing at the poker match and hid a smile. I had no doubts in my mind as to where she was going to end up after she dropped me off to talk to Spot.

Speaking of which, where was the boy? I looked around but couldn't see him anywhere. Duck paused momentarily before grabbing my hand and hauling me towards the doorway that led to the kitchen. Again the room was sparse save for a small table with some chairs, an oven, and a sink with a pump and a window with faded pink curtains. Around the table sat Spot, his right hand man Action, Maple, and Sprite, Cinder stood stirring something in a large pot on top of the stove. They stopped talking abruptly when we entered the room; all eyes on us immediately.

"Well look who's back, the spy." Maple drawled this lazily, and Action smiled at her, draping an arm around her shoulders. I squared my shoulders and could feel my jaw clenching. Duck made a dismissive gesture but tilted her own head back when Spot asked her what was going on. I looked over at him to find his blue eyes steadily fixed on me, they were blank and he seemed relaxed; ultimately a good sign. Cinder had turned back to whatever she was cooking, another good sign. They were just kids, children really; but they could exact their own judgments and vengeance how they saw fit.

I had told Duck and Bookworm how I had met Spot and the rest already, and also about my brief trip to the docks, so Duck didn't waste any time. She merely stated that Silver had taken me on as a Manhattan newsgirl, but that for my own reasons I wanted to be able to come and go freely between Brooklyn and Manhattan, which included me wanting my own bunk at the Brooklyn lodging house.

Spot idly twirled a bottle cap between long, pale fingers and studied me more intently, his eyes weighing and measuring. I tried to stand taller than my five feet and made my expression as nonchalant as possible. Cinder tapped a long spoon against the pot and set it to one side, wiping her hands on a ratty apron that was tied around her thin waist. She had gathered her long red hair up into a messy bun at the nape of her neck. Smiling encouragingly at me, she gave Maple a glower who was saying something nasty about my appearance to Action, who was giving her an indulgent look. Those two were obviously a couple and Maple was certain to give me a hard time here. I suddenly felt extremely tired and my shoulder's drooped.

"Listen;" I said suddenly after being stared at for a full five minutes and growing impatient, "I know you don't know me yet and therefore don't trust me, but how in the hell are you going to ever trust me if you won't get to know me? I just want to be able to be free to go back and forth between here and Manhattan." Acting on a whim, and adding a well-used plot twist, I gave Spot and then Cinder a beseeching look.

"I came here from Vermont, my older sister ran away a few months ago and she told me in the one and only letter that she sent me that she was in Brooklyn. She didn't tell me where in Brooklyn, as a matter of fact she said that she didn't want me to find her, but she's my only sister and I just have to see her again. If I can come and go as I please, then it will make things easier while I try to make a living and find her." I saw Cinder giving me a sad look, while the others were more guarded. Spot suddenly stood up and yawned, stretching. Lifting the cane that had been propped up beside him, he stuck it into a belt loop and gave me another unreadable glance.

"You and me will talk more in the morning. I'm tired as hell, so yeah you can stay for now. I'll lay out the rules and such tomorrow and we'll see how things go. Duck, show her upstairs where she can sleep and I don't want no trouble outta any of you girls, you got me?" This was directed mainly towards Maple, who just shrugged and agreed, apparently all out of hostility now that Spot had taken me in. Cinder turned the stove off and put a cover onto the pot as Spot wrapped a lean arm around her waist and pulled her against him, moving the both of them out of the kitchen.

I heard him holler out in the other room that the lights were going out in five minutes and if anybody wasn't up on time tomorrow morning that they would have to answer to him personally amidst a chorus of groans and griping. I expected to hear more opposition but from the scrapping sounds of chairs being pushed back and the stomping of feet going up the staircase, these kids obeyed Conlon at every turn. Duck led me upstairs and pointed out a bed onto which I promptly flopped and burrowed underneath the thin, scratchy woolen blanket. I didn't bother getting undressed; I'd just be wearing the same clothes in the morning.

I heard Bookworm whisper good-night to me, her bed was on one side of me, a wall on the other. I think I answered her, although if I did it was probably a muted grunt that didn't pass for English before my heavy eyelids took command and I slipped into a heavy, dreamless sleep. So passed my first but definitely not my last evening at the Brooklyn Lodging House. I was one step closer to my goal, but nowhere near the end of my story.

A/N – Well I made this one longer since it's been so long since I updated. Now on to the shout outs! – A/N

**Nada Zimri – When are you going to update YOUR story missy?! Hmmm?! **

**Spot: ::swings cane:: You want I should rough her up? ::innocent grin:: **

**Err no Spot I'm sure violence won't be necessary…::evil look:: RIGHT?! ;D**

**Just Duck – I hope you like your character! If you think it sucks, let me know I'll change it, I promise. I adore the 'Princess Bride' which is why I put that in there. **

**Onesongofglory**** – Why thank you! That's one thing I can fairly give myself credit for, I do use a lot of detail in my stories, I'm glad you think I do a good job with it and I'm glad you liked how I used your character! I hope you keep reading!**

**Cici**** – Yay I'm glad you're happy!! I'm always so glad when people like how I use their characters, I get nervous that I'm not going to do them justice. **

**Raeghann**** – Yeah it's amazing how quickly you get addicted to people's responses or lack thereof to the stories you write and share on this website. I'm glad you like it, here's another update, hope I don't disappoint!**

**Dimonah**** Tralon – Hey there, I hope you like how I used your character, please let me know if you don't and I'll make the proper changes and such. But keep on readin' and thanks for your review! I was happy to get your character and use it, it's a great one :D**


	7. Chapter Seven

"I wonder when she's going to wake up." I was awakened by the sound of whispers and the weight of people sitting on my cot. Not opening my eyes, I regulated my breathing and listened. They sounded fairly young, so it was hard to tell if they were little boys or girls. I figured, with Spot's opinion of females as newsies that it was highly unlikely that they were little girls.

"Maybe if you stick your peppermint stick up her nose that'll wake her up. I mean, we've tried everything ya know."

"Feh, why waste a good peppermint stick on her nose? I'll just try this;" with that my eyelids were promptly pried open and I sat up quickly, crying out in dismay. Three small boys sat on my bed, two were the twins Hide and Seek from last night, and the third was a scrawny little boy of about four with fiery red hair and the same turquoise eyes that Cinder had. They were all dressed in clothes that were either too big or too small and patched up in many places.

Blinking innocently at me, they offered up angelic smiles, the youngest boy's being the most endearing for he was missing a front tooth. I couldn't help but smile back, reminded instantly of little imps. Both twins had straw colored hair in dire need of a trim and wide, brown eyes, freckled noses and bruises and scratches galore on their thin, pale legs showing from the knee below the ends of their knickers. I noticed that they wore matching brown knickers but that their shirts were different colors, one blue the other red.

The third little boy wore a plain white shirt and short pants. He had a little cross on a fraying piece of string around his neck and I studied it intently for a moment having never seen a child that young wearing such a thing. Just then a tiny charcoal colored kitten streaked into the room and all three boys immediately leapt from my bed and gave chase.

A girl charged into the room, which was apparently the girl's bunkroom and began hollering at the boys to leave the kitten alone, that they were frightening it to death. She had beautifully long, albeit messy auburn hair that swirled around her shoulders and down her back and when she moved a musical tinkling noise came from a little bell strung about her neck on a bit of ribbon. A faded green shirt was tucked in at the front but hanging down in the back and she wore gray suspenders that looked like they had once been black that held up a pair of trousers that pretty much told the same story as the suspenders.

"Rory McShea if you touch that kitten I'll stuff your feet into your ears!" The four year old paused briefly as he bent over to grab at the kitten who had decided to seek refuge next to my bed, slightly underneath it. Flashing a wicked grin at the girl, he continued trying to snatch it up, but his hesitation proved to be his undoing for I swooped in and picked it up by the scruff of its tiny neck and cradled it to my chest. Rory growled in frustration and motioning towards Hide and Seek would have tackled me if it weren't for a sudden piercing whistle.

"What the HELL is goin' on in here?" Five pairs of guilty eyes swung towards the door to where Spot stood, arms braced against the doorjamb, face clouded with anger. His green and white checkered shirt hung open to reveal a leanly muscular chest. His dirty blonde hair was tousled and a smoldering cigarette hung out of a corner of his frowning mouth, ash drifting away as he talked. Well, to say he was 'talking' was a little bit of an understatement.

"Rory, Hide and Seek! What have I told you about bothering the new kids? And this don't look like the boy's bunkroom to me, does it? Get outta here and finish getting ready it's almost time to leave for work. And you;" here he paused to swing a finger towards Rory, "You are going to Mrs. Hanlon's while we're gone." All three boys moaned in agitation but after a fierce noise made deep in Spot's throat, they scuttled out the door and vanished. Conlon then turned his temper onto me and the girl, who stood nearby glowering at Spot.

"Damnit Bells what the hell did I say? What did I say about bringing animals back here? Ya can't keep it."

"Oh yeah?" Spot's chin lifted and his jaw tightened. I stroked the kitten's head with a finger nervously watching the two of them argue back and forth. The kitten chirped and rubbed its nose against my hand, kneading its tiny claws and arching its back in pleasure. I was won over right then and there, let me tell you.

"I ain't getting' rid of it Spot and ya can't make me! Old Man Mahoney was going to throw it off the Bridge, so I told him to just give it to me instead." I thought I saw a flash of amusement light Spot's blue eyes before it was gone instantly. Crossing his arms, he tilted his head looking at her.

"You're lyin'," he said smugly. Bells bristled; flinging a handful of her riot of thick, wavy hair over one of her shoulders she put her hands on her hips and spread her feet apart slightly. It was a fighting stance and I was sort of entertained at the thought of this slight girl taking on the leader of Brooklyn.

"I am not lyin' this time, honest." Spot arched an eyebrow and walked into the room, peering into Bells' face carefully. Rubbing a hand over his chin, he took a drag off of his cigarette and with a twitch of his lips shrugged and sighed.

"Keep the damn thing then, O'Malley won't let ya so ya better hide it good."

"Humph, O'Malley wouldn't know what day it was if it wasn't written on top of the ledger in the lobby." Spot grinned and lightly punched Bells' shoulder. Turning to look at me, he tilted his head back so that he was looking down his nose at me. I squirmed and wished that I could just burrow underneath the blanket but he crooked his finger and gave me an impatient glance.

"Let's go dollface it's your first day in Brooklyn, we have to discuss the rules." Exiting the room, smoke trailing along behind him, fingers fastening his shirt buttons I could tell he clearly expected me to follow him. Leaping out of bed, I combed my fingers through my hair and tucked it up underneath my borrowed cap. I still wore Misery's pants, shirt, and suspenders.

Bells was nuzzling the cat, making little cooing noises. Our eyes met and she smiled briefly at me, I'd have to meet her later. Dashing out into the hallway, I almost ran into Spot from behind, for he had stopped suddenly. Rory, Hide and Seek were teasing a skinny girl with straw colored hair and large pale green eyes. Tears were running down her cheeks, and I noticed that when she walked it was with a pronounced limp. She couldn't have been more than twelve, and her thin shoulders shook with sobs.

"Get...away...from...her...right...NOW!" Spot's voice was deadly calm until the last word. All three little boys spun around and then shot down the stairs. The little girl turned to run in the opposite direction, but Spot stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"Betty, don't let them get to ya. It ain't your fault what happened to your leg, you know that." The girl's anguish was plain in her eyes and it hurt to see. Spot chucked her under the chin and promised that he'd take her to feed the ducks in the park later when he got home. The girl's eyes brightened and with a plainly obvious adoring look, she disappeared into a room, her head held just a little bit higher.

Spot turned to catch me staring at him a little confused. This was the abrasive ghost that I had met in my time and the fearless, hard as nails leader of Brooklyn? His jaw tightened and he arched an eyebrow at me with a grimace on his lean face.

"Is there a problem with somethin'?" I shook my head mutely, and followed him down the hallway. We walked through a large room full of bunk beds, none of them made, all of them different in some ways with the possessions scattered around them on small bedside tables and on shelves. The room was empty, I could hear voices rising up from outside through an open window. Spot waited outside the washroom while I scrubbed my face and relieved myself.

Clattering down the stairs after him, I was struck dumb by the curious, guarded stares of all the Brooklyn newsies as we exited the lodging house. Spot abandoned me for the time being to saunter up to Cinder, a smile playing around his lips. With a wave of his cane, everyone started walking down the street after the pair. I hung back, letting a slight distance gather between me and the main group of kids, not wanting to attract any aggression and strangely shy. That wasn't like me at all, but I was finding it slightly hard to connect with these verge of the twentieth century teenagers and children.

"Hey there Lily!" I was jolted out of my musings by the arrival of Duck, Sprite, and Bookworm, all smiling at me amicably. I felt the corners of my mouth curl up and I felt a hopeful wave course through me. Sprite sniffed at my shoulder again, winking at me as she fell in alongside me. I had the feeling that I would get used to that eventually. Bookworm was singing and half-tugging, half-rubbing one of her ears as she intently listened to Duck describe a fight scene in the book she was reading.

Further ahead, Maple and Emotions were walking with Action. Maple kept glancing back at me, a derisive look on her thin face. Emotions lit a cigarette and I caught myself sniffing the air after the smell, almost licking my lips. Maple noticed and jabbed Emotions with a bony elbow, causing the other girl to look over her shoulder at me. Stopping in her tracks, leaving behind an annoyed looking Maple, who was hauled along by Action, Emotions thrust a rolled cigarette out at me as we caught up to her. I took it with a grin, letting her strike a match on her shoe and lighting it.

"Ahhh thanks so much. I needed this bad, you don't even know."

"Nobody NEEDS those things, they're filthy!" Duck wrinkled up her nose and Bookworm nodded, her face solemn but her blue eyes laughing. Emotions waved a hand in the air, as if to ward off the other girls' opinions. The sleeve of her blue shirt flapped down and I saw the tattoo on her wrist once more. That HAD to be unusual for a girl to have a tattoo in this day and age. She caught me looking and explained that the overlapping 'Y' and 'N'stood for the York Newsies in Canada. I gave her a confused look and the said that they were based out of Toronto.

"That's where I'm from, Toronto. Long way for little old me to end up here eh? Two other friends of mine are in New York who come from Canada too. Maybe you'll meet some time soon, they're Midtown newsies. Dodger and Irish, my family." Suddenly looking uncomfortable, as if she felt she had said too much too soon, she shut up for a little while, silently puffing on her cigarette, casting unreadable glances at me from time to time. Again I was struck by how secretive most of these kids were with their pasts, and emotions. This was going to be tough work getting myself in good with them, especially Cinder and Spot.

We reached the Distribution center and went through the whole process of buying papers and perusing the headlines. I chatted with Duck, Bookworm, Emotions and Sprite freely until the kids began pairing off and heading out. Cinder and Spot walked up, Cinder looking rather put out about something, giving me a look that I almost would have described as jealous before collecting Sprite after telling her that they were going to sell together. Emotions disappeared with Maple, and Duck and Bookworm left together as well.

"Let's go;" Spot waited impatiently for me to sling my pile of papers onto my shoulder, his eyes following Cinder and Sprite as they left the D.C. Yard. I couldn't help but feel a little unwanted as we trudged along, Spot yelling headlines, and me trying to echo him. People weren't buying from me, they were buying from him. A trio of men dressed in ratty clothing, faces covered with soot strolled by and while two of them leered and whistled at me, the third bought a paper which I almost flung in his face when he offered to take me into an alley and get to know me better.

Fuming, my face heating up I wanted to break out into helpless tears as the three men laughed and jeered at my discomfort. I started to walk away when the most forward man grabbed my upper arm and squeezed tightly.

"That offer weren't up for negotiation," he informed me, dragging me towards the alleyway. I cast my eyes about frantically but didn't see Spot anywhere. I dug in my heels and started yelling for help but people just hurried past, eyes downcast not wanting to risk their own necks. Suddenly the man holding me went down, legs turning limp and folding in on him. I staggered in the opposite direction only to be grabbed again. Fighting, I was just crushed up against this other male form even harder, while Spot's voice hissed in my ear to be still.

"This your girl Conlon?" One of the other men, a leanly tall fellow with a thin handlebar mustache and impressive dark sideburns clenched his fists and gave Spot a level look. Spot inclined his chin and smirked at him.

"One of 'em Riley, don't fuck with her. Nobody fucks with my girls." The man, Riley nodded once and jerking his chin at the other man, they gathered their comrade and made a retreat. I stared at Spot, open-mouthed while he calmly gathered my fallen papers and dusted them off, his cane tucked under his arm.

"Just like that those grown men back off?"

"Yep, just like that. Riley and Seamus know me from way back, and the third guy Sean is an idiot. Don't know when to back off. You ready to go; we have a long day ahead of us." I mutely nodded and we spent the rest of the morning selling papers, Spot sending me a little ways down the street so that I'd get some business. Around lunchtime, I followed a quick-stepping Conlon to the docks where the rest of the newsies apparently gathered for food and to relax.

Spot was looking for someone, Cinder I supposed. She wasn't there, and I saw his skinny face darken slightly before herding me to his perch high up on a small platform where he could keep an eye on his waterfront territory. Sitting down gingerly, I heard and felt my stomach rumble. Spot pulled a gunnysack out from behind a small crate and rummaging around came out with some apples and crackers. I ate gratefully, thanking him while trying not to spit food everywhere.

He gave me that slow, mischievous grin that he was so good at and biting a huge chunk out of an apple started giving me the run down of rules and regulations. No sleeping around in the lodging house that was allowed elsewhere, but not there. If there was fighting with another borough, I HAD to prove my worth and step in, to live at the lodging house meant I must protect it as well. He ticked off the rest of the obligations on his fingers, most of them following a gang mentality, which I had been expecting. But some took me aback, and were highly chauvinistic.

The female newsies were expected to take care of any newsies under the age of ten, find them clothing, food, cut their hair, give them baths, teach them to read and write. Our jobs were to act as surrogate mothers to the young newsies and as maids to the older ones. We were also expected to do laundry and clean the lodging house once a week.

My mouth was hanging open and I could almost hear the steam hissing out of my ears. By the time he finished this last bit, I was so pissed off that I almost couldn't see straight. Slowly putting my apple core down next to me, while struggling with the sudden desire to bean him right between the eyes with it, I took a deep breath and looked him full on.

"You've got to be shitting me," I said flatly, tucking a wayward lock of my black hair that had been tugged free by a playful breeze. Spot's easy demeanor changed instantly, his shoulder's squaring, jaw tightening. Raising that damned eyebrow of his he smirked at me.

"S'your problem?" I unconsciously clenched and unclenched my fists in a vain attempt to stay calm.

"You expect the girls to work a full day just like the boys and then come home and play fucking house to a gang of delinquents? You're mad! Let the boys help, it's only fair!"

"You don't like it, then leave, simple as that."

"Maybe I will, you…snotty son of a…"

"Hey! Watch yer mouth before I kick your ass and leave you here."

"Fine, get lost. Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya." Spot paused at this last retort and regarded me solemnly before hunching over and laughing in a boyish manner almost falling off of the platform in the process. Clapping a dirty hand on my shoulder he grinned, shaking his head, a lock of his dirty blonde hair falling into one of his cool blue eyes.

"You're a riot, you know that? For some reason…Ahhh I don't know what it is, I just feel like we've met before. You sure you're new to the city?" I nodded dumbly, suddenly subdued immensely as with that statement I was reminded as to why I was back in the past and my mission. Spot stretched then, and casting his gaze out over the kids swarming the docks, he suddenly gathered up his slingshot and cane and dropped the few feet from the platform to the dock with a solid thud.

Looking back up at me, he studied my face intently as I averted my eyes and thumbed through my stack of papers left over. Really, I was horrible at selling papers and I had no hope that it would get easier with time. Holding a hand up to me, he waited for me to take it. When I didn't, he looked up, his face carrying a slightly annoyed expression.

"You coming Riot?" My head jerked slightly and I grabbed his hand and let him pull me down to the dock, almost losing my balance as I did so.

"What was that you called me?"

"Riot, it's your newsie name. Every newsie has to have a newsie name, no arguing about it. And they usually don't get to pick it either, it's always given to 'em. You made me laugh harder then I have all week, so yours is now Riot. Get used to it kid, now let's go I have an errand to run and since I'm showin' you the ropes today you're comin' with me."

I rolled the name 'Riot' around on my tongue for a few minutes as I silently followed him down the dock, through throngs of crudely dressed, foul-mouthed, chain-smoking youngsters. I felt tingly warmth spread through me as I realized that I had just passed another step closer to my goal. The leader of the Brooklyn newsies, one of the two I was supposed to befriend had just given me my newsie name. I was being accepted into their ranks, and it was about damned time. Happily walking behind Conlon, I felt a bounce in my step and smiled broadly. Today was turning out to be a great day.

**Shout Outs!**

**NadaZimri – Yay, update your story soon!**

**Spot: ::grabs Nada's tongue and yanks on it::**

**SPOT! **

**Spot: Err….::sheepish grin::**

**Oh Lily always knew how to lie; she just hadn't used it yet. :D**

**Lady of Tir Na Nog – Maple definitely has issues. You know the real Emotions? And I'm doing a good job with her? Yay that's an awesome, awesome compliment, thank you.**

**Lisa – Thank you I'm glad you like it!**

**Uninvisible – Hah yeah I know that I'm making the Brooklyn kids have a Mafia mentality but the way I see it is, back then if you stuck together in a gang like that you probably acted just like that; a gang. And sooo I make them hooligans to an extent.**

**Raeghann – Your character made a brief appearance in this chapter, not to worry she'll be in plenty more. I hope I did her justice, it was a great profile. I definitely think Spot would have to be tough and strong, I don't agree with any of the fan fics that make him this freakin' sap from the get-go. He wouldn't have made it where he was if he wasn't a strong, strong, tough as nails boy. I'm glad I haven't disappointed you so far!**

**BlackWiltedRose – Yay another new reviewer, welcome! Eeeep what an awesome review, I'm blushing! Thank you so much I shall continue to try to do a good job with this story.**

**Rede – Welcome! ::does new reviewer dance:: Thanks so much for your kind words, here's an update!**

**JustDuck – Yes Cinder is going to be partial to her…for the time being…muahaha or maybe I'm lying about that. ::evil grin:: Nailed. ::leer:: Yes my nom de plume. I should have called myself Misery Riot or some such nonsense. Of course you gotta win all the boy's money every once in awhile. Shake things up a bit'n'all. ;D**

**Dimonah Tralon – Yeah I decided to give you an original character as a boyfriend because then I can just mold him to the personality in the profile you gave me and he'll be the perfect boy-o. Ahhh…fiction. As if that would ever happen in real life! ::snorts:: Glad I got your character down, I'm always happy to hear that from the owners of the characters I steal. Err…borrow. I meant borrow.**

**Spot: Swift, Riot. **

**Shaddup dinkus! Humph. Well Anywho glad you liked, keep on readin' and reviewin'!!**


	8. Chapter Eight

"So where are we going?" Spot walked fast for a short guy, I knew how that was, the shorter you were the faster you learned how to walk to compensate for the larger strides of others. He shrugged a shoulder and I glowered at his narrow back. Resisting the urge to yank him by the collar and demand to know, I followed in silence, not speaking even when he taught me how to jump the back of trolleys, ducking down and holding on tight so as not to be run over.

We rode through Manhattan, not stopping until we got to a neighborhood that looked as bad as the one the Brooklyn newsies called home. Leaping off, Spot steadied me so I wouldn't fall on my ass, and shot me that cool smirk of his as I straightened my clothing, cheeks flushing.

"We're in the Bronx, Riot. I have to see Flint about tonight, Jack's havin' a little get together at Medda's and most of the boroughs get into temporary truces for such events." He had his cane out and I was getting slightly annoyed as he tapped out a jaunty rhythm on the sidewalk. As we entered an alleyway and skirted a pile of crates, a weird whistle sounded out, the notes slightly flat. Spot smiled, tilting his head up to look at a window of the building to our left, even though when I looked, I saw no one.

"They know we're here; listen don't open that mouth of yours and say anythin' stupid you hear me?"

"Yes Master."

"And don't you forget it." We locked gazes and I snorted softly, while Spot looked like he was fighting the urge to grin. A battered door swung open almost hitting me in the face, as I yelped and darted behind Spot. Two tall, muscular boys our age stood in the entrance way, unsmiling, arms crossed over brawny chests. Spot tilted his chin back, and took a protective stance; feet spread slightly apart, hands on his cane.

"Looky, looky if it ain't the King himself." The slightly taller of the pair stepped forward, spitting into a dirty hand and shaking Spot's. Spot nodded at him, and the other boy followed suit, not speaking but watching us intently. The first boy had hard gray eyes, and a boxy jaw with a shock of blonde hair falling into his face from underneath a bowler hat. He wore a dirty black vest over a white shirt, and gray pants that had seen better days. A watch chain dangled at his side, and I could see the imprint of brassknuckles hidden in his other vest pocket.

The second boy had short black hair and the greenest pair of eyes I think I had ever seen. They flickered over Spot before settling on me, shaggy black eyebrows lifting slightly as they looked me up and down. Flushing in anger, I opened my mouth to say something to the silently cocky bastard when Spot elbowed me in the side…hard. I felt my face pale when the second boy shifted, and the collar of his dirty shirt came open to reveal a thick, ropy scar that went around the front part of his throat. Someone had tried to slit his throat and had not succeeded apparently.

"Flint, Grim, I want you to meet Riot. She's my newest acquisition."

"Acquisition eh?" Flint stared at me and I cleared my throat, shooting daggers at Spot with a sideways glare.

"You listen here, it isn't like that okay?" I found myself jabbing a finger into Flint's chest and I jerked away with a horrified gasp. But it seemed the Bronx boys were used to mouthy females because Flint's mouth curled into a lazy smile and the solemn Grim even managed to twitch the corner of his mouth up at me. Grim lit a cigarette, cupping his large, ink-stained fingers around it as he sucked in deeply. I was fascinated by the damn boy for some odd reason and felt myself turning pink when he noticed me staring.

"I hope you didn't come all this way just for the dame to give Grim moony eyes." I immediately looked at the ground, mortified and sidled behind Spot once again as all three chuckled at my expense. Grim blew out a large smoke ring and this time smiled fully. Making a strangled sound in my throat, I didn't look at him again as Spot went through the necessary motions of ensuring that the two boroughs were on good terms and there would be no tension tonight at Medda's. The Bronx and Brooklyn had had a falling out a few months previous and Spot was anxious to not spoil the festivities. When Flint asked if he was going to Harlem to do the same, Spot's mouth turned into a thin line and he shook his head shortly.

"Fuck Spook, I don't give a shit about that shady bastard. He can rot for all I care." I went cold at the mention of Spook and wondered instantly if he was going to be there tonight. I had yet to meet this infamous jerk off and assess what the damage was when it came to Cinder and Spot's relationship around him.

"You goin' tonight, sweetie?" I gave a start at the raspy, ruined voice and realized that it was Grim's.

"Maybe," I said shortly. Tapping my shoe on the ground I tried not to meet his eyes and didn't succeed. They looked amused, as amused as a boy named Grim with a horrific scar could look I guessed. I saw that his knuckles were practically ruined, having the crooked look of someone who got into plenty of fistfights.

"I'll see ya there then, save me a dance wouldja?" Spot coughed into a fist, making a noise that sounded suspiciously like laughter as Grim nodded at him and disappeared back into the building, cigarette smoke trailing behind him. Flint left soon after, leaving me to stalk along behind Spot as we left the Bronx. He teased me without mercy as we walked, asking when the wedding was and that it had been sometime since Grim was so obviously interested in a girl. When I asked about Duck, and why she had been in the Bronx visiting him, Spot laughed even harder and said that her and Grim were like brother and sister.

"Until he learned how to fight, she was the only one who didn't pick on him for his scar his old man gave him. Shit, she used to read to him when he was in the hospital to help him sleep. Still gets nasty nightmares I'm told, don't blame him." I didn't say much after that, disturbed at the idea of a father that could do such a thing to their own child. Spot must have noticed, for he changed the subject, telling me about Medda and how much fun everyone would have. As we dropped down from the back of a cart onto the street leading to the Manhattan lodging house, I could have sworn that I saw Cinder disappearing down an alleyway with a tall boy, but just as quickly, I blinked and the image was gone.

An old man stood outside on the front stoop, directing three boys on a rickety ladder who were hanging a freshly painted sign that read 'Manhattan Lodging House' up over the door. I recognized Racetrack, a cigar hanging from his mouth, and Mush, along with Jack, his cowboy hat clapped onto his head, face red and sweaty. A sharp whistle from Spot had all three whipping their heads around, Jack dropping from the ladder to spit and shake with Spot.

"How's it rollin'?" Mush and Race nodded respectively at Spot and went on with the sign hanging. I heard laughter coming from an alleyway nearby and stuck my head out, craning my neck. Three little boys played marbles and were laughing at Tiggey who lay on her stomach setting up a shot. She winked and waved at me and I waved back, jumping slightly as we were joined by the graceful Jazz, who slid an arm around Jack's waist. Jack kissed her cheek, and gave me an amused look.

"Brooklyn huh? What, Manhattan ain't good enough for ya?" Spot laughed and jabbed my arm, which I tried not to wince at, rubbing it when I thought no one was looking. For a shrimp, he had a tough punch. Smiling apologetically at Jack, I explained that I still was living at Silver's as well. Jack gave me a knowing look and grinned.

"Nobody does the two borough thing successfully for long, kid you'll figure that out."

"Riot, do me a favor and go ask Race for a light, I'm fresh out of matches." I trotted off to see Race, after both Jack and Jazz gave Spot puzzled looks. When I came back, not only with matches, but also being trailed by the short Italian boy himself, Spot was explaining my nickname including the part about the 'don't let the door hit ya' joke I had snapped at him earlier.

Jack snorted out a laugh, while Jazz smiled at me, Racetrack guffawing and slapping his knee. Spot gave me a friendly look mixed with something else, which appeared to be…pride? My eye twitched slightly as I looked away, the boy had only known me for a day or two but whatever. The closer I got to him the easier it would be for me to counsel him in the affairs of his love life. Not that anything appeared wrong at this moment in time however, despite Cinder's absences.

"Where's your girl?" As if reading my mind, Racetrack spoke up, his dark eyes cautious. Spot's mouth thinned into a line and he tapped his cane on the ground in a vicious gesture before crossing his arms, a smoke dangling out of his lips. Shrugging shortly, he gave Race a look that told him to 'drop it' pretty damn quickly, which the other youth read loud and clear. The talk then turned into their desire for it to be nighttime already so they could cut loose and have fun at Medda's. When Jack asked Spot if there were any borough wars he should know about, Spot's shoulders tensed and he gave Jack a long, level look.

"Just the one, Jacky boy, the one and only." Jack gave Spot an unreadable look which Spot responded to by turning to me and asking if I wanted to stay in Manhattan to get ready for the evening or walk back to Brooklyn with him. I thought about it for a minute or two, and then told him I wanted to go back to Brooklyn so that I could walk with Duck, Sprite, and Bookworm. Nodding, he said his good-byes to the others and we went on our way, not trying to hop any carriages or trolley's this time.

Spot offered me the end of his cigarette, which I took, not minding the looseness of his roll, or the fact that it was almost gone. Inhaling deeply, I jingled around the few cents I had to my name and laughed openly at people giving me sneers for being a female who smoked and wore boy's clothing. Spot gave me a faint smile.

"Cinder does that too, laughs at the people who try to look down on her. She says she can wear whatever the hell she wants, it ain't nobody's business. Ya know…you remind me of her a lot."

Whoa there tiger, hold the phone. My mind began to race as I took the situation in swiftly. This boy was having problems with his woman and was telling me I reminded him of her, plus I was trying to spend as much time with him as possible in order to help his dead self, whom he had no idea about, therefore he must be assuming that I liked him…crap!

"Uhm, yeah except no one can remind you EXACTLY of your girl, she seems one in a million." Spot's gaze sharpened and he gave me a weird look before breaking into a broad grin.

"You bet your ass she is." I let out a huge breath of air, masking my utter abandonment of relief by taking a drag off the butt of the smoke and flicking it away with a sharp turn of my wrist. The sky was taking on a flat gray color, and I screwed up my nose at the thought of rain, and walking in it. Maybe I SHOULD have just stayed my ass in Manhattan, I thought bitterly to myself as a big fat raindrop landed on my head.

Cross-eyed, I examined the moisture that began to fall, dripping from my head into my face, running down the back of my neck. Sighing I figured, fuck it; and began dashing along, forgetting about Spot, forgetting about being in the past, forgetting about shit well everything as I stomped in the newly formed puddles and twirled around in my favorite rainy day ritual.

"I'm siiiiiiinging in the raaaaaain…just siiiiiiinging in the raaaaaain…what a gloooooorious feeeeeeeling I'm happy again…la, la, la, la…I forgot the rest of the wooooooords…." When I did a double-foot leap into a particularly large puddle and heard a strangled yelp, I whirled around to see Spot standing alongside of me, his eyes wide, water pooling off of the brim of his too-large gray cap.

"Are you fuckin' crazy?" Shame coursed through me that was quickly replaced with anger as I gave him a double-fingered salute and spat onto the ground. Hitching up Misery's suspenders, I flung my head back and closed my eyes, letting the rain pelt me in its steady downpour. I was sick of this shit, sick of being a nothing in history. I wanted to ask somebody what happened on MTV's 'Jackass' or whether or not Inuyasha had finally fallen for Kagome on Adult Swim. But the clattering of wooden wheels alerted me to the fact that I was very much in 1899 and that I had better damn well act like it or else.

Wiping a hand across my forehead, I flung away the moisture and blinked at Spot who was still looking at me like I had sprouted three heads and a tail. Crossing my arms, I lifted an eyebrow and jerked my chin towards Brooklyn and a familiar figure that stood on the bridge ahead.

"Hey, isn't that Cinder?" Spot about-faced, his face clearing of everything except apprehension as he studied the obviously female figure on the bridge ahead of us. Shooting me a look, he raced on past me, not stopping till he caught up to the slender girl, a hesitant hand reaching out to gently cup her shoulder, body language unsure, as he leaned close to talk into her ear.

I hung back, almost positive that they were going to fight; a thought which was rewarded when Cinder abruptly stalked ahead of Spot and he strode forward, stopping her with a hand grasping her upper arm. When the girl swung around to face him, and me as it so happened I was taken aback by the snarl spread across her usually gentle face. Spot apparently was as well, for he dropped her arm and took a tiny step back, frozen in shock. Cinder shot him a look that was at both frustrated and sad as she raised a hand, one finger in the air, warning him away from her. I heard Spot call her name into the sodden air as she ran away, stomping through puddles without care.

If I could have disappeared right then, I would have let me tell you. I was no stranger to feelings and how boys were VERY sensitive about sharing them or being caught up in one of the more emotional ones and Spot Conlon was no exception. I stood a few feet away, shifting from one foot to the next, watching his shoulder's go from slumped to rigid to slumped again. Turning his head to glare at me, he summoned me to him with a jerk of his chin which was squared in rage.

"Let's go," he said in a low, unsteady voice. I walked discreetly behind him, careful not to get hit by his cane, which he swung as he walked on into the heart of Brooklyn, our footsteps making wet noises on the cobblestones. I slipped once, and hissed in pain as I smacked my knee off the ground and I was surprised that Spot had even noticed, but he was at my side helping me stand up, his face not even showing a trace of the annoyance I would have felt at the intrusion into my solitude.

"This ain't the first time, ya know." I did a double-take, rubbing my knee as we took a little breather. Spot stood in the alleyway he had led me down, his chin tucked against his chest, newsie cap pulled low over his eyes. He had yet another cigarette dangling from his lips and I watched the smoke curl around his head and disappear into the steadying gloom of the dreary afternoon. A carriage splashed by, the driver yelling obscenities at pedestrians who were slow getting out of his way.

"Er…no, I didn't know that." A twitch of Spot's lips was the only response I got as he drew a deep breath in and then exhaled. We stood like that in silence for some while, as I willed my knee to stop aching. I would have murdered for a car right then and there. All this walking was rough on someone from the twenty-first century. Hah, what a wuss I was.

"She's hidin' something from me, I can feel it. I will find out what it is, you can bet your ass on that." Spot's voice took on a considering tone as he suddenly looked me up and down. I felt my cheeks grow hot and I looked away, not liking his piercing gaze directed fully upon me.

"I think you'll do just fine," he said, handing me the end of his cigarette. I took a deep drag and raised one of my eyebrows at him. He smiled then, but it held no mirth, or warmth. Tapping the brim of the newsie cap I wore into my face, he swaggered off, obviously expecting me to follow.

"You can help me find out where she's goin' and what she's up to. Nobody makes the King of Brooklyn out to be a fool, not even my own girl." I choked on my drag and coughed out spats of smoke, my eyes watering. Oh Lord, things were about to get interesting.

**Shout Outs! **

**Just Duck – What you don't like my drawn out chapters? Sheesh, no respect I tell ya. I like my stories to have depth which inevitably makes them long and sometimes I add too much detail so I apologize if it seems like I'm dragging things out. Basically the main conflict is going to be coming up but there will be time spent dealing with the whole triangle between Spot, Cinder and Riot as the go-between and whatever else she ends up as. **

**I just can't help it y'honor I have a dirty, dirty mind. ;)**

**Lady of Tir na nog – Now now you don't want Spot dead! ::Spot gives Lady puppy dog eyes::: See? He's harmless, I promise… **

**Uninvisible – Hah yeah my mom does too, I think it's a mom thing. Fo'shizzle mah nizzle…**

**Dimonah Tralon – Yay thanks and I'm glad you like your character!!**

**Emotions – Yay I'm glad I'm doing a good job with your character. Sorry for the delay in the update I shall try to keep it steadier.**

**BlackWiltedRose – Thank you so much! I hope you continue to read and like my story, thank you for your reviews!**

**Detroit**** – Thank you! Thanks for reviewing. **

**Raeghann – Thank you, thank you. I liked your character profile as well by the way. Yeah I liked the rascals in the beginning as well it was fun writing that part. Sorry for the delay in updating, hope this makes up for it somehow.**

**NadaZimri – Yep Lily can lie like a rug…hehe…UPDATE SOON! ::Spot shakes his cane:: Bad Spot…she IS unarmed.. **

**Spot:: All the easier for me to beat an update out of her..::evil grin::**

**Sorry I can't control him ALL the time Oo**


	9. Chapter Nine

**A/N – Sorry for the delay guys, what with work and the Red Sox in the ALCS then the World Series, I've been too busy and tired to write. So I tried to make up for it with this extra long chapter, although I fear it's just another filler perhaps, let me know how you feel about it. Oh and you ****Manhattan**** girls, no worries you'll all be in the next chapter, everyone will with more lengthy cameos and the like. I'll be updating again soon, I've got a flow goin' on with this here story. **

**-- Riot "GO RED SOX!"**

**Warning – If bad language offends you, the F-bomb is dropped rather frequently in this chapter so move on if that 'tis the case. Thank you!**

"Are you coming or what?" I blinked at Spot, standing in the alleyway; arms crossed his usual smirk firmly in place. Nodding vaguely, I trotted up to where he stood and hooking my thumbs into my belt loops, rocked back and forth (A/N Thanks Duck!) waiting for him to speak.

"You gonna help me?"

"Against my better judgment, yeah." Spot's eyebrows lifted a little at my words, but he just cocked his head and whapped the brim of my newsie cap again before heading down the sidewalk, me walking alongside him. I noticed that he walked on the outside, keeping me away from the street and its traffic. A touching gesture that made me study him silently looking at him in a different light.

His blue eyes were tired, and he had circles underneath them that stood out on his pale skin. I could see by his glazed expression that he was thinking and plotting furiously the whole time we walked. As we reached the street the lodging house was on, I put a hand on his sleeve hesitantly. I could feel his arm tense under my palm, and I took away my hand quickly, apologizing.

"You look exhausted if you don't mind me saying…do you HAVE to go to that party tonight?" It was faint but undeniable; I was getting attached to the rough around the edges, hostile boy. I saw Spot sigh and he shook his head before coughing, a dry hacking sound that grated my ears. Fumbling around looking for his tobacco pouch, I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Take it easy with the cigarettes too," I told him sternly. Spot cracked a grin at that, finding what he was looking for and taking out a previously rolled cancer stick and placing it between his lips.

"Sure thing, Ma, and yeah I have to go to that party. I'm a borough leader; we all have to go to these things." I shook my head in annoyance.

"Why, to represent?" I made gang signs with my hands before blushing and stuffing them into my pockets. Why the Hell did I do that, he didn't know what that meant! Stupid, stupid girl! I berated myself silently as Spot gave me a weird look and stuck a cigarette into my mouth. Lighting his own and then holding out the wavering flame to the end of mine, I inhaled enough to get it lit and then cupped it in my hand, keeping it away from the rain.

"You're a daft broad did ya know that?" I snorted at his language and stuck my tongue out at him. Walking off towards the lodging house, I stopped in my tracks when I heard him call my name. Turning around, I put my hand on my hip and cocked my head expectantly.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for uh…looking out for me; ya know tellin' me not to smoke and that stuff. I'm just not used to it." I had a feeling that most of these street boys would flock to and end up marrying the girls they met who mothered them. Shaking my head and flashing him a brief smile, I went inside the lodging house only to almost be bowled over by the twins, Hide and Seek who were being chased by Action.

Hide and Seek promptly began trying to literally CLIMB me, shrieking in delighted horror for me to protect them from Action. The older boy laughed at the expression on my face, and giving me a friendly smile, began helping me extract myself from the twins. Wait a minute, a friendly smile? I shot Action a nervous look only to be met with eyes that no longer held any malice or hostility. Apparently having the boss take a liking to you meant that I was okay in everyone else's eyes. I must have passed some sort of unwritten test.

Seek had a handful of my shirt and was stubbornly refusing to let go, hanging upside down on my back, clutching at my sides which tickled me horribly. Yelping, I fell to the ground, Seek realizing that a new game was beginning, started to grab at my ticklish spots without mercy. Hide leapt on me as soon as I hit the floor and I started laughing hysterically until I was practically crying.

"Alright, that's enough." Hide and Seek leapt off of me at the sound of Spot's voice, while I lay still gasping for air. Action stuck his hand out and helped me up, where I stood huffing and puffing, wheezing slightly. I shouldn't be smoking so many cigarettes myself, I thought. Spot and Action were having some sort of unspoken conversation with their eyes which ended when Action jerked his chin upwards and Spot headed towards the stairs, calling over his shoulder for me to get ready to go.

Action lifted a dark eyebrow at me and really honestly looked me over, his intense gaze making me blush furiously and cross my arms over my chest, my own eyebrows scaling my forehead incredulously. A tiny smile quirked his mouth up and transformed the granite expression on his face.

"Boss has taken quite a shine to ya," he said in his deep voice. I didn't like what that implied but I was shocked to feel a flutter begin in my stomach that traveled up my spine. Uh-oh. Waving a hand in dismissal, I briefly gave Hide and Seek noogies and then tramped up the stairs to hear World War Three going on in the girl's dorm room.

Sprite, Duck, Bookworm, Maple and Emotions all stood outside in the narrow hallway, leaning against the wall, each one with a different expression playing across her face. Sprite looked slightly scared, Duck worried, Bookworm sad, Maple indifferent, and Emotions angry. The shouting was punctuated by a solid thumping sound that sporadically rang out against the thin walls in the room, with each dull thud the red color high on Emotions' cheeks got darker and darker until I thought she was going to explode.

The door suddenly burst open and a furious Cinder erupted out of the room followed closely by Spot, who was practically stepping on the backs of her heels. He grabbed the collar of her shirt, and I saw Emotions step forward, raising her fists but Spot paid no attention to her as Cinder whirled around and slapped him fully across the face.

"I will see who I want to see, and spend time with who I want to spend time with. Just because I choose not to live, eat, and breathe YOU doesn't mean I don't care anymore, you bastard!" and with that, She spun on one heel and fled down the stairs as Spot watched her go, his face suddenly frighteningly impassive. Flicking a heated glance in our direction, he snarled something unintelligible and disappeared into another room, slamming the door behind him so hard that the gas lamps on the walls shuddered.

Maple hooked Emotions arm with her own and steered the furious girl into the dormitory room, while Duck laid a comforting arm around Sprite's shoulders and the three girls followed the first two. I hesitated in the hallway, torn between following Cinder, who I realized was probably already gone in the maze of Brooklyn's streets, or growing balls and bothering Spot.

'I had to do something', I decided firmly. I was sent back here for a reason, and if that reason wasn't to befriend and comfort Cinder into staying with Spot, then maybe it was to befriend and comfort Spot. My voices of reason argued with each other and I ignored them both as I stalked down the hallway and rapped my knuckles hard on Spot's door.

"Fuck off!" Okay so he was still mad. 'Like he wouldn't be after only a few seconds, idiot' I sneered at myself. Not taking 'No' for an answer, I knocked again. A muffled thud echoed off of the door and I realized that he had thrown something. Tossing caution to the wind, I wrenched the door open and stepped inside. The Brooklyn leader was standing in front of his window, suspenders hanging carelessly at his sides, arms braced above his head against either side of the frame. He turned his head only slightly, a lock of his ash colored hair falling into one pissed off sapphire eye before he looked outside again, shoulders rigid with tension.

"Fuck off, Riot. You're new so you obviously don't know when it's okay to be around me and when it ain't." Squaring my jaw, I shoved a pile of dirty laundry off of a rickety chair that sat in the corner by a squat, ancient writing desk and sat down firmly, crossing my arms over my chest, the brim of Misery's cap dropping over one of my eyes. I paid it no attention, squinting up at the back of the boy in front of me.

"Nonsense, I know you're upset and people need other people to talk to when they're upset." I saw Spot grip the frame until his knuckles turned white and I felt a queasy fluttering in my stomach. I truly DIDN'T know how he would treat me; I hadn't spent enough time with the ghost Spot to get an idea of his true character. But it had seemed that he was genuinely upset at the idea of boys hitting girls so I clutched to that glimmer of hope as Spot suddenly about faced and crossed the room in two long strides, dropping down in front of me, clutching my upper arms in a fierce grip.

"Who the fuck are you? Are you for real, what do you care anyway?" He was shaking me slightly, and I began to get pissed off. Tilting my head back, I couldn't see out from under the part of the brim of the cap, which greatly hindered the icy look I attempted to shoot him. For some reason the expression on my face humored Spot for he dropped my arms and sat back on his haunches, amusement lightening his lean face.

When he smiled, a light dancing in his blue eyes, it changed his whole face and I sucked in a breath in shock. Gone was the sullen, hostile youth replaced with a nearly dare I say it 'normal' looking individual who didn't go around knocking people's heads in with his cane. Slowly he reached forward and pushed the brim of the cap back so that I could see, before sighing and letting the rigid set to his body drain away.

"You fuckin' confuse me, kid. Nobody bothers me when I'm angry let alone have the balls to follow me into my room, plop their ass down in my chair and demand that I 'talk' to them without expecting a shiner."

"Ya gonna hit me?" Spot shook his head, another smile gracing his face as he fiddled with the buttons on his vest, flinging it off of him and starting to work on the buttons of his shirt. I was interested to see if he would actually undress in front of me, a thought which shocked me beyond belief as my cheeks flooded red and I looked down at the floor, counting the knotholes in the warped wood.

Apparently not, for Spot just threw his shirt on top of his vest and began buttoning another one over the dingy undershirt he wore. That was followed by a rust colored vest and his slingshot back into his pocket.

"Ain't ya gonna change?" Spot's jerk of his chin seemed to encompass my entire appearance for I looked down at my boy's clothing and shrugged noncommittally. His mouth twitched in a warring mix of displeasure and amusement.

"Most of the girls like to look their best," he said bluntly, his eyebrows quirking in a mocking way at me. I considered that for a moment and after making an obscene gesture, I stood up, done with him for the moment. A hand wrapping itself around my upper arm made it known to me that he however was not done with my presence.

"So you want me to talk to ya huh? You want to make me feel better and give me all the answers?" When he said it in that tone, with his head tilted to one side, eyes piercing me it sounded rather foolish and overly emotional but that was how I could be sometimes. I came from a place where my friends had stood by me through thick and thin and were always there when I was upset about something.

"I just want to help," was all I said in a quiet tone of voice. Spot opened his door, and placing a hand around the back of my neck, steered me forward, shutting the door and slapping his gray cap onto his head. I could tell that he was unbalanced by having someone actually inquire as to whether or not he was 'all right' and 'did he need to talk'. I guess most guys would just normally punch something and get drunk.

The girls were piling out of the dorm room, chattering excitedly about the night at Medda's until they saw me and Spot. Emotions fingered a switchblade that suddenly appeared in her hand, until Spot stared her down, and she tucked it back up her sleeve.

"You hit her Conlon?" Spot stepped nose to nose with Emotions and they glared at each other for a few moments before he shook his head slightly and gave her a wry if not annoyed look. Emotions relaxed but the fierce glint in her hazel eyes.

"Good thing," was all she muttered before stomping down the stairs, followed by the rest of the girls as a breathless Bells came UP the stairs, noticing the tension and demanding to know what was going on. Spot ignored her and she aimed a punch at his shoulder that missed before giving me a curious look and heading on into the girls' bunk room to change.

Spot, with his hand still clutching the nape of my neck, it's grip firm yet not painful, led me down the stairs and passed everyone hanging about in the lobby waiting to leave. Murmuring a few words to Action, Spot led me out into the night air which had turned chilly and clear, stars showing in the inky darkness of the sky.

"Why aren't we waiting for everyone else?" Spot shrugged and lit a cigarette. I followed suit, sucking in deeply, tasting the tobacco and the sulfur of the match smoke.

"They know their way, besides; you said you wanted to make sure I wasn't upset, right? So go ahead hot shot, make me feel better. Fix me, Ma Riot." I faltered in mid-step, watching Spot swagger ahead, his cane batting his legs gently, sleeves rolled up to his elbows even with the nip in the air. Turning, smoke circling his head and disappearing, he gave me an expectant look.

"Well?"

"Why were you and Cinder fighting?" Spot waited for me to catch up, rubbing the side of his slightly upturned nose with a dirty finger and shrugged evasively. I snorted and shook a finger at him, sticking my cigarette into the air for emphasis.

"Oh no Boss man, if you're going to give me shit for wanting to make sure that you get a chance to vent, then you're going to spill it, got me Chief?" Spot shot me a look that was half-warning half-dread before tucking one of his hands into his pockets and kicking at a rock.

"Cinder used to be a Harlem newsie, one of Spook McCarran's. I guess when they had a thing for each other or whatever until I met her and then she was all about me and living in Brooklyn. Spook is sort of like her best friend/mentor/who knows what if you got me." Taking a deep pull off of his butt, he shook his head.

"For a while now, maybe a few weeks before you showed up she's been going off on her own around lunch time and not coming home till late at night. Sometimes she spends the days with me, but only if I give her enough of a hassle. How sad is that the guy whining because his woman won't spend time with him?" Spot shot me a bitter smile and spat a swear into the breeze.

"I can't believe I'm telling you this shit, I don't even know you." Probing blue eyes met my guarded green ones as I raised my shoulders and gave him a mild smile.

"Sometimes it's just good to get it out of your system, ya know instead of holding it inside and taking it out on innocent people." Walking through a knot of roughly dressed and talking men, I realized that we were half-way over the Brooklyn Bridge already.

"Well I think she's seein' that no good Spook behind my back, and she's afraid that I'll be angry with her when I find out, because I WILL find out," Spot's voice radiated promise and I shivered slightly.

"Well she'd be right, right?" Spot's chin jutted out as he nodded in a grudging manner.

"The guy's no good; it's the God's honest truth. Anyone of his newsies will tell ya that just like anybody who knows him will. He's a mean, sneaky, weird bastard. I think Cinder wouldn't think so highly of him if he didn't act totally different around her. He's two-faced, ya know?" I felt a chill run its icy fingers down my spine. So Spook McCarran had split personalities did he? This was getting more and more interesting and frightening as well.

Hitching my collar up against another stubborn breeze, I looked up into the sky before squeezing my eyelids tight and mumbling a hasty prayer to whatever deity out there would listen. Only I knew what would occur if I failed, a girl would end up with a broken heart and battered body for life and a boy would end up dead, doomed to wander through the ages unseen and forgotten.

Glancing up, I saw Spot watching me with a small smile on his face, arms crossed over his chest. I looked back, suddenly very scared, tired, and bewildered. He must have seen the change come over my face for he beckoned me to him and to my utter surprise slid an arm around my shoulders.

"S'matter, Ma Riot? You look like you just seen a ghost or somethin'." Pulling me along, I felt my eyes glaze over as I turned my thoughts inward to brood more about my situation, the last thing I spoke on our walk to Medda's echoing in the night air and seeming to hover over my head like an ominous cloud of what was to come.

"Maybe I have, Spot. Maybe I have."

**Shout Outs!! **

**Emerald Tears – Thank you I hope you enjoy this chapter!! **

**Detroit**** – Ahhh yes perhaps ::wink:: **

**Just Duck – You'd be right with the Cinder and Spook deal. **

**Spot: Lookit her, she's so transparent you can see right through her AND her plot lines… ::snorts with disgust::**

**Where's that pencil with that magic eraser….**

**Spot: Did I ever mention that I love you and you're awesome? **

**Yes I haven't decided on what Grim's whole involvement will be but I like his character so he'll definitely be around…**

**Rede – Yay! It is? ::looks around:: ;P**

**Raeghann – I really liked Grim and Flick as well, they're going to become more intertwined with the story line I think. I liked how they came out. I'm glad you're excited when I update, hope this one is just as good!**

**Lady of Tir Na Nog – Heheh yeah a pit-bull would be about right I think. Don't worry now that baseball's over I'll be able to write more often.**

**Voided – You may indeed be greedy. Being greedy is damn fun.**

**Dimonah Tralon – Thank you so much! Riot is definitely here to help, although it may not seem like it at times. Just keep faith, everything will sort itself out in the end, I promise. I can't write overly angsty stories, I love stories with happy endings too much. **


	10. Chapter Ten

**A/N – I know this is up rather quickly but Raeghann said if I posted again she'd post another chapter to HER story and Lord knows I'm DYING to find out what happens next in her story so duh – nuh – nuh!, Here you are!**

**--Riot**

Medda's was lit up like it was Christmas, 'A unusual thing for me to say' I thought to myself; 'since you haven't SEEN it at Christmas'. I quickly stopped thinking to myself for Spot was giving me a look one might give a rabid dog as I stood there arguing internally.

Changing my expression, I let him drag me inside past throngs of newsies milling around out front. The Manhattan kids were already all in attendance, some were helping girls dressed in brightly colored showgirl costumes hang streamers and more than one boy had their shirt sleeves rolled up, sweat staining their backs as they heaved tables and chairs to either side to create a space to dance.

Feeling a sharp pinch to my arm, I looked over to see Misery standing next to me, an impish grin lighting her pixie-like face. She wore boys clothing like me, a cranberry colored shirt rolled up at the sleeves and un-tucked, gray trousers with a patched knee cuffed at the feet yet still dragging slightly, and black suspenders almost falling off of her narrow shoulders.

"Nice outfit, I think it's dashing." I grinned at her, despite her unnerving presence to which she blinked then laughed as I began to giggle. She was referring to the fact that the clothing was her own, but she didn't mention when it was to be returned which was a heartening thought.

I doubted I had enough money for clothes yet. The boy Pie Eater sauntered up, mopping his face with the handkerchief he usually wore around his neck, yellow shirt stained slightly with sweat. Grasping Misery by the back of her neck, he bent down and gently kissed her before swatting her bottom and walking quickly away when she squawked in protest.

I noticed that despite the angry light in her expression, that her eyes were slightly glazed over and dancing with contentment, as I turned away to look around. Spot had disappeared, I spotted him a moment later talking to Jack, who had his arm draped possessively around a girl wearing a showgirl costume that was a frothy mixture of blue and green, her mis-matched eyes serenely taking in everything around her, two feathers hanging from her pinned up hair, one blue the other green. I nodded at Irish when she met my gaze, and she nodded back, quirking a corner of her mouth up before interrupting Jack who laughed at her and squeezed her closer to him.

I spotted Jazz sitting on a corner of the stage, singing a lively song in French, Kid Blink smiling at her as he attempted to copy the words, bumbling over the foreign language, but laughing at his own mistakes. She was dressed differently than the other girls, she wore a cream and black colored outfit and her blonde hair swung freely around her shoulders.

"Look out below!" A person slid down a rope and landed with a thud in front of me, a huge smile lighting her face. Tiggey only half-pouted when Mush ran up, yelling at her for doing something so daring. But she was trying not to laugh the whole time, I could see it in the quiver of her mouth and the way she winked at me over Mush's shoulder.

She wore boy's clothing as well, a grayish-blue long sleeved shirt over an ivory wife-beater, brown pants and her scuffed shoes. The cabby hat was there as well, perched precariously in her black tumble of hair. Mush, realizing that yelling at her wasn't going to affect her, pulled her to him in a semi-headlock and rubbed the crown of her head with a fist, grinning at me while she swore and fought furiously to get out of his grip.

"How the hell did you manage to do that anyway," Mush said releasing her and looking up at the balcony above us where newsies milled around talking, shouting, laughing. Tiggey shrugged; apparently she was deathly afraid of heights.

"I just grabbed the rope and held on." Mush gave her a fond smile, and the pair moved away, arms slung around their waists. I felt a little lonely even while standing in the vast crowd of kids until someone came and put a hand on my shoulder. Starting out of my thoughts with a jolt, I looked up to see Grim standing beside me, his face solemn, but his eyes bright. He wore a cabby hat pulled low on his head, and a dark blue plaid vest over a light gray shirt. I could see the chain of a watch hanging out of his pocket that swung and caught the dim gas light.

"You came," he stated matter-of-factly, his raspy voice croaking out of his ruined throat. Clearing it and turning slightly pink he finally smiled at me revealing a gap in his side teeth where a tooth was missing. It gave him a very boyish charm that his rough outward demeanor couldn't cover up. I nodded and put a cigarette into my mouth, reaching for a match, but Grim beat me to it. Lighting my cigarette and then the one that now dangled out of the corner of his mouth, he shook the match and I watched the smoke curl and drift away.

"So can you dance?" I eyed Grim and exhaled out my nose with a snort. Grim was watching me expectantly. I waved a hand out to the crowd and then put a hand to my ear.

"I don't hear music, do you?" Just then a huge roar went up as someone started playing a lively tune on a piano and a woman I assumed was Medda appeared, trilling in a pretty voice. Grim winked at me and I rolled my eyes, but couldn't fight the answering smile that flashed onto my face. I saw people begin to dance, while others hung around the sidelines, watching the dancers and Medda, who was now surrounded by her showgirls. I saw Jazz and Irish amongst the faces and it took me a second to realize that the piano player was Hyena.

Hyena wore baggy trousers and a tight undershirt with a larger pale green shirt over it, her short brown hair falling into her eyes as she really laid into what she was playing. I stared, transfixed as she pounded the keys, putting her heart and soul into the music. She'd only been playing for five minutes and already her shirt was stained with sweat, under her arms and in the small of her back. Medda, a tiny woman with bright red hair that clashed with her purple satin costume, came and put her hand on Hyena's back and the small Asian girl opened her dark brown eyes and smiled serenely at the older woman before concentrating once more.

Hearing a commotion at the door, I turned my head to see that Brooklyn had arrived. Emotions swept in, her eyes searching, standing on her tip-toes until she spotted Racetrack who was sneakily trying to spike the punch with a dull, stained silver flask full of God knows what. Rushing over, he swept her off of her feet and she took the flask into her hand and took a deep swallow before kissing him, throwing her hands around his neck. I laughed at the spectacle they were making, aware somehow that it was not just for themselves, but also for the benefit of everyone else. The two were born entertainers.

I waved at Sprite, Duck, Bookworm and Bells who accompanied the trio, and they made their way through the crowd as I ignored Grim who was scowling slightly. Bells deviated in her route, and I saw her approach Spot, who was now standing at the bar, dropping back a shot of some murky amber colored liquor that reminded me of the shade of Bells' hair although hers was shiny, not dim. I saw him toss the shot glass so that it skittered across the bar slightly before Bells put a hand on his forearm and spoke to him, her brows drawn together, eyes worried.

Spot waved her off, but not before the look on Bells' face sharpened and she shot him a zinger because he stiffened and both pairs of eyes swerved to where I stood with Grim. Hastily I looked elsewhere, and when I finally swung my gaze back, Spot stood with his elbows braced on the countertop, his back to me and Bells lazily sauntering in my direction. Gulping nervously I grabbed Grim by the sleeve of his shirt and literally dragged him out onto the dance floor.

Now I've said it before, maybe not in the telling of this story but I'll say it again for my reader's benefits, I cannot dance. I couldn't dance if my life depended on it. The extent to which my dancing abilities went was for me to be able to bob my head and tap my foot in time to the music. MAYBE and that's a huge maybe, I could drum out a rhythm with my hands, but even that was asking slightly too much. Luckily for me the stoic, tough, damn well scary looking Grim could really shake his ass. The boy had me twirling, dipping, and gasping for breath in less than ten minutes.

Laughing uproariously at a huge dip that almost sent me careening into Emotions and Racetrack, who just laughed and moved away, Grim set me back onto my feet where I waved a hand in my face and begged off from dancing so that I could get a drink. Grim offered to go grab me one, but I let him stay where he was as I wove my way through throngs of newsies towards the bar.

Spot was still standing there, leaning now against the stout, pitted and stained counter. I stopped at his side, nudging him lightly with my arm as I rested. Grimacing, he looked at me, and I was taken aback by the raw emotion in his cool blue eyes. Lighting a cigarette with a vicious twist of his wrist he blew out a huge cloud of smoke near my face and I could smell the whiskey fumes.

"Whiskey huh? My God but that's an old man's drink." Spot shrugged and bitterly jerked his chin towards his empty shot glass after throwing it back and draining it of the translucent brown alcohol. The bartender served him with pursed lips, not approving but also vastly aware of whom the young hooligan was.

"Yeah, well I'm an old man," Spot said as he flicked his ash into an empty bowl and moodily cupped the shot glass with a dirty hand. Frowning at him, I worried a spot on my lower lip with my teeth before the bartender came back with my pint of ale. Saluting him and tossing what I hoped was a decent tip onto the counter, I walked away well aware of Spot's eyes boring holes into my back. I refused to obsess over what his problem was, knowing fully well that it had to do with the fact that everyone was seemingly paired up tonight and he was without Cinder.

Draining part of the pint as I walked, I ran into Sprite and a tall young man with an almost sour expression on his handsome face who I recalled was named Skittery. Sprite gave me a shy smile, tucking one of the many uneven strands of her blonde hair behind one of her ears. Skittery nodded shortly at me before directing his attention back towards…something in the crowd. I couldn't figure out what it was until I saw Emotions and Racetrack doing a very exaggerated version of a tango, Racetrack clutching a flower in his teeth. Emotions was laughing, tears leaked out of her eyes and onto her cheeks and it made me pause to see the change that boy had wrought out of the hostile, suspicious girl from a few days ago.

"Crazy bastards," I heard Skittery say, although his voice was full of affection. Sprite smiled up at him and they moved on, while I navigated my way back to where Grim stood leaning against the wall talking to Flint and another boy. Flint gave me a knowing smirk as I neared and I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Riot this is Doc, Doc, Riot. And you already know Flint." I spat into my hand and shook with Doc after he extended his own grimy spittle covered paw in my direction. He was short and compact with fine, light brown hair and a derby hat on his head. His eyes were an odd whiskey almost maroon color, and he wore a billy club attached to his trousers by a leather strap. His shirt was the off-white color of a favorite garment, worn again and again.

"Why do they call you Doc?" Doc flexed his hands and gave me a slight smile before raising a smoldering cigar to his mouth and puffing on it.

"Because the Bronx don't have any girls to stitch up our war wounds so I do it." I must have had a horrified look on my face as I glanced at his thick, callused hands for Doc laughed and Flint was smiling at me. Grim put a hand up to the back of my neck and kneaded my muscles loose until I realized that weren't actually laughing AT me.

"How do you think we like it? Big old clumsy boy sticking a needle into ya skin? His name is sort of a joke if you will," Flint explained, barking out a warning to a pair of newsies who danced too close to him. The little boys stopped their exaggerated high-stepping and slunk away, casting nervous looks over their shoulders at the older youth.

A stir began towards the top of the entryway stairs as I saw kids being pushed aside by a group of raggedly dressed boys. Standing on my tip-toes I also saw that they were armed to the teeth, clubs sticking out of waistbands, slingshots dangling from back pockets. One even wore a pistol tucked into the front of his pants. I was always amazed that people did that, especially men. I kept waiting for one to blow off their bits and pieces.

Jack, Mush, Kid Blink, Pie Eater, and some of the other larger Manhattan boys began to congregate in the middle of the floor, followed by some of the Brooklyn boys. I noticed Grim and Doc looking at Flint expectantly and he finally nodded, and the trio went to join them after telling me in curt tones to stay put.

The tallest boy, a very dirty greasy haired kid with a dull shock of red hair sneered at everyone. Looking into the faces of who I assumed were the Harlem kids, I saw scrawny muscles and thin faces. Yet they carried with them a dangerous air that warned people they weren't an easy victory.

"Spook sends his greetings, however he can't make it tonight. He has other…plans for this evening." The pause was deliberate and the boy looked right at Spot who turned a dull purple, starting forward as if to throttle the kid. Jack leapt on him, and Spot struggled for all he was worth, swearing and thrashing about. I knew then that it had been Harlem's way of saying that Cinder was there, and otherwise occupied with Spook.

More than one of the Brooklyn girls stood behind the boys faces shocked and angry. Bells had a firm grip on Spot's collar, whispering into his ear fiercely while Emotions struggled against Race's grasp, hissing that she was going to go take care of the 'lyin' witch right now'.

I huddled against the wall, not out of fear of what was occurring exactly, but more or less scared about everything. Things were suddenly moving too fast, playing out in a rather macabre drama that I found I couldn't control. Raising my chin, I shouldered my way through the crowd, stopping finally in front of the red-haired kid. He leered down at me, spitting onto the floor close to my boot. There was a loud hum to the crowd of newsies, and the music had long ago stopped playing.

"I wanna talk to Cinder," I said calmly keeping a corner of my eye on the puddle of spit so that I didn't step into it. The boy laughed and I sneered back at him, hooking my thumbs behind the front of my suspenders, near my waist affecting a rather casual stance. Inside I think my stomach turned over five times, upending a whole colony of butterflies that beat rapid wings against my ribcage and heart.

"Riot," I heard Grim speak to me in a low voice, followed by Spot's furious choking of outrage. Tilting my head back, I met the red haired boy's eyes with a steady look. He was looking at me in an appraising sort of manner now, eyes narrowed in speculation. Finally nodding shortly, he told me that he would go talk to Cinder and meet me back here in an hour or two. With a final mocking laugh at everyone in the room, he waved gaily over his shoulder as he herded his gang of miscreants out ahead of him.

My legs began to tremble as Harlem left, and I was surrounded by furious Manhattan and Brooklyn newsies asking me if I was crazy. Emotions declared that she was going with me, a statement that was met with a disgusted look from Bells.

"Jinx will never let you go with them and you know it." Emotions wasn't calmed by Bells' answer in the slightest and started pacing around, muttering to herself. Misery's gaze held a vast amount of respect as she watched me sit down in the nearest chair, after which I had a thoroughly pissed off Grim in my face. I waved him away, not interested in getting lectured further, although it seemed everyone who I had made an acquaintance with was intent on doing just that.

After the tenth 'what the hell do you think you're doing' speech, I stood up, abruptly jogged to the bar, grabbed a bottle that was sitting just off to one side and not caring what was in it, trooped outside and sank down in between two barrels out of sight and mind, but still in a position to watch for the boy, Jinx.

It wasn't but fifteen minutes later when a familiar boot nudged my ankle in an impatient manner. I moved over and Spot slumped down against the wall to sit by my side. Taking the bottle of what I had found to be a smooth, sweet wine, he slugged some back and then handed it to me, wiping his mouth on a sleeve. We sat like that for a few moments, neither one of us saying anything, the only sounds our ragged breathing, and the rasp of a match as I lit a smoke for myself and then one for Spot.

"What are you playin' at Riot?" he asked me softly, turning his head so that I could look into his eyes. Uncomfortable, I shrugged sullenly and took a swig from the bottle, holding the sweet wine in my mouth as long as I could before swallowing it. Truly my desire to help the pair was starting to fade away. I wasn't altogether sure if I wanted to go home to the future, or to just carve out a new existence in this muddled past age, but away from the complicated mess of Spot and Cinder's relationship or lack thereof.

"I feel bad she's in Harlem and I want to find out why," was all I said. Spot snorted and shook his head, leaning it back heavily against the brick wall and exhaling, closing his eyes so that his lashes fell onto his cheekbones. He looked gaunt and tired in dim glare of a streetlamp.

"I don't know why you give such a shit about me, Riot but nonetheless, thank you." Standing, he helped me to my feet holding my hand a heartbeat longer than necessary, his eyes searching my own. I could feel his bitter pain about being betrayed and hurt and it hurt me in turn for somehow I felt close to this rough kid.

"I'll have some of my boys waiting just outside the Harlem line, they can't go in there they'll get beaten. Take Grim, he'll go with you. I…I can't," he said simply. I could hear both the reasons clamoring behind the shaking anger in his voice as he tried not to lose it completely. Placing a hand on his arm, I squeezed gently and was given an awkward one-armed hug in return before Spot drew away, embarrassment showing plainly in his eyes and the set of his mouth.

"Come back in one piece, okay kid?" he said gruffly slapping the brim of my cap like usual before he walked away, using his familiar walking cane. I knew he would head back to Brooklyn, and after the other kids tried to return to their party, they would find that they couldn't and most would head back to their boroughs as well.

A hand grabbed my arm and whirled me around, and I came face to face with a very upset Grim. His mouth was set in a thin line, and the muscles in his jaw worked as he ground his teeth together. Smiling sheepishly up at him, I was rewarded with a snort and a very faint uplifting of a corner of his mouth before he stiffened and I saw green eyes flicker towards the corner where the tall outline of Jinx leaned up against a streetlamp, tossing a coin up into the air and catching it, over and over again.

"Let's go, he's waiting." Taking a deep breath and hitching my suspenders up to settle more comfortably, I lead the way towards Jinx, and Harlem, and my meeting with Cinder. I had gotten under Spot's skin, now it was time to see if I could do the same with the friendly albeit surprisingly guarded girlfriend. Or was it ex-girlfriend now? I cleared my head of my musings and fixed my thoughts on the task ahead. Lord knew what was going to happen before this night was over. I sure as hell didn't.

**Shout Outs!**

**SkyShadow**** – Yay a new reviewer AND cookies!! I'm in heaven! Thanks so much, hope you continue to read and enjoy.**

**Raeghann – You already posted your new chapter before I could finish this so I'll post this chapter as a thank you for posting yours. Yes I quite like the sparks flying between Riot and Spot, I do believe they shall continue. Cinder is going to be a key character still, she's quite the strong girl although it may not seem it. Not long enough? My last few chapters have been like 7 pages each, that's a lot for me! Hehe…**

**Just Duck – Haha yeah one of my friends calls his mom 'Ma Dukes' so that sort of stuck with me for some reason. Cinder doesn't die, it's Spot who's supposed to die. ::hug:: yeah I couldn't help but use your belt-loop thingy, thank you!**

**The Mayor's Daughter – Yes Cliffhanger's are evil but I do leave a lot of them. Thank you for reading and reviewing despite my evilness! **

**Locket – Hey thank you! I appreciate you're reading it and taking the time to drop me a note. Thanks again**

**Uninvisible – Hmm, what part was corny? I can get sort of corny but I do try to stay away from that, sorry. Oh yes I am a Red Sox fan, a BIG one. I live outside of ****Boston**** by an hour or so. **

**NOMAH!**

**Dimonah Tralon – Yeah Riot's got an equal mixture of guts and a tendency to jump into things without thinking. Thank you though, I hope I can keep up writing chapters you guys enjoy.**

**Rede – Yeesh what a great compliment! I'm turning red and I hope I can keep up the good work and not let ya down! Thank you so much for reading my story this far and writing me reviews, I appreciate it. If you want some more great stories to read, try Raeghann's stuff, she's awesome. **

**Voided – Nope I wouldn't say you were falling off the limb, but I can't say if you're staying on it securely or teetering because that would give stuff away. Although I guess I don't really do much by keeping it TOO complex, haha… **

**Are you a Yankees fan? If so, I'm sorry the Yankees played extremely well it was a tough ALCS series. If not who do you like?**


	11. Chapter Eleven

Following Jinx didn't prove difficult; the boy swaggered along in a steady, loping pace. Grim stalked by my side, eyes occasionally cutting towards my direction to regard me silently before flickering back to studying the sidewalks and alleyways. My stomach was heaving too and fro, and I had to gag back some of the sweet wine I had shared with Spot more than once, fear making it slosh around my insides uncomfortably.

I didn't see the two shadows detach themselves from either side of the street well before we reached Harlem until they came upon us, one tall and muscular, the other tall and distinctly feminine. Jinx paused, surprise lighting his face as suddenly as the match that was struck flared in the night air. I saw Flint and Silver standing next to Grim and I, and both looked at each other just as shocked.

"What are you doin' here?" Flint pointed at Silver with a demanding finger. Silver raised her chin and squared her jaw, although I saw her lower lip tremble as she looked at her ex-flame with an outwardly calm demeanor. Jinx spat a huge glob of phlegm onto the sidewalk, honestly the boy had a rather nasty habit of that, and snorted.

"What the hell are ya both doin' here? Nobody invited you, although Silver it's been awhile." Silver sneered at Jinx, who just leered back. Flint didn't miss that byplay and he crossed his arms, his stony expression growing even cooler and distant. Silver stuck a hand on her hip and frowned. I hadn't seen her all night although I supposed that she had been at Medda's with the rest of them. She wasn't dressed up; in fact she was wearing a dull gray shawl over a dark red shirt, and baggy dark brown trousers. It suddenly occurred to me that she was dressed to blend in with the darkness. So Silver had been on sentry duty and had seen Harlem arrive then Jinx come back by himself after they had left.

"Riot's one of my newsies, and I'm not sending her to Harlem by herself."

"She isn't by herself she has Grim and me."

"Like I said, Riot's one of MY newsies and she's ain't goin' by herself. End of discussion or would you like to disagree some more?" I saw Silver's hand disappear then reappear with a billy club cut out of stout wood and roughly shaped in one of her fists. Flint's eyes narrowed and he took a deep breath, his whole stance shifting and changing; he instantly became more alert.

"Can we cut the dramatic crap? Cinder's waiting and I'm tired as hell." Jinx's voice was bored, and he lit a cigarette, spitting out stray bits of tobacco. Silver tucked the club into the front waistband of her pants and taking my arm in one of hers, walked down the street with me after Jinx. I almost thought that Grim and Flint wouldn't follow, but sure enough I heard their reluctant footsteps coming after our own, echoing on the cobblestones.

"Do you really think he's going to let you see Cinder?" I looked over and up at Silver who's skin seemed taut and stretched thinly over her cheeks. Uncomfortably I shrugged, looking ahead at the swaggering Jinx. Flint and Grim weren't talking, so we kept our voices down to a hushed whisper.

"Why wouldn't he?"

"Because you come from Brooklyn that's why. Listen, let me try to explain this whole Cinder/Spook thing to you real quick, mmkay?"

"Go for it"

"Cinder is a Harlem newsie, born and bred like me." I must have made a noise of surprise for Silver gave me a brief grimace of a smile before continuing on in a non-stop chatter.

"Cinder and Spook were inseparable as kids; I mean they were always together. Kind of like how Pistol and Blink were if you ever get the chance to hear their childhood history. Anyway, they ended up going together, despite the fact that Spook seemed to be growing up just like his old man, a good for nothing who liked to express himself with his fists." Here Silver became thoughtful, bending her neck slightly so that her hair fell in a shimmering curtain of white in the moonlight.

"Actually Spook and Spot are very similar which is why I think they can't stand each other. Cinder was the only one who could get through to Spook, calm him down. Like how she used to be able to do with Spot when he got upset and went on a rampage. Like you did with him earlier or so I heard." Thank Christ it was dark, I could feel my face turning millions of shades of crimson. Waving her last remark off, I told her to continue.

"Spook lost his temper, hit Cinder one afternoon. As far as I know…" here Silver was stressing her words and choosing them very carefully or so it seemed to me as I dug through my pockets looking for a match to light the cigarette dangling from my lips.

"As far as I know, that was the only time he's ever done that. Well, he hit her and she came to find me, of course I was in Manhattan at the time, and the Girl's lodging house was nothing but a dream so she took off to Brooklyn. I thought Spot Almighty-Friggen Conlon would send her packing in five minutes, but the boy took to her like bees to pollen and so there she resided until apparently things began going sour. I don't know if it was a mixture of Spot being too clingy, which he can be I suppose as most of these wretched street hooligans are, or if he was spending too much time with the newly arrived you, my dear."

I hadn't even thought of that, and I stumbled, shame and guilt flooding through me. Silver steadied me with her arm and steered me around a lamppost carefully. Truthfully, Spot HADN'T been spending too much time with me asides from those couple of days selling and going to the docks and Harlem. But to Cinder it must have seemed like an awful lot of time for a boy who had formerly spent every minute with her.

"It wasn't like that, honest" I protested dumbly before Silver gave me a slight smile. Shaking her head in sympathy she patted my arm and clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth.

"It's always like that honey, especially with Spot Conlon. You're new around here so you may not have noticed but for some odd reason that stubborn, arrogant, pissed off little Mick is quite the ladies man. And if you haven't seen it yet, you will trust me." I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. Is THAT why Spot had started hanging around me all of a sudden? Just because he felt starved for female attention? I didn't like what was going on one bit but at this point in time, now that we were partway through what I assumed was Harlem; there wasn't much of anything I could damn well do about it.

Silver noticed my silence after I didn't speak for a good ten minutes. Nudging me gently, I looked at her to see her with a soft smile on her open face. I ruefully smiled back, but it faded away when I realized that Jinx had stopped in front of a run-down tenement building. There was no sign out front proclaiming it to be a lodging house for newsboys, but I gathered that this was the place, when I noticed the three boys lounging on the front steps. All greeted Jinx, and immediately regarded our gathering with open hostility and a mocking light in their eyes. Jinx bowed at the waist and with a flourish told me that Cinder was inside.

I hesitantly started up the stairs, having to literally climb over the three boys as they would not get out of my way. I heard Grim's sound of anger as it tore through the air, sounding guttural and stuck in his throat. When I reached the top step, expecting to find Flint, Grim, and Silver behind me, I was instead faced with the sight of the three boys restraining Flint and Grim, while Jinx stood in front of a furious Silver, laughing.

"Go on inside Sweetie, you're the only one who's expected." Giving Jinx a steady, cool look, I lifted my chin and shoved the door open waiting for people to jump on me and beat me up or something. When nothing happened I looked around briefly. I was in a narrow entryway where coats, scarves, and caps were hung on pegs to my right and left. Hearing voices, I walked down the hallway which opened up into a common room with a table, a pot-bellied wood stove, and numerous chairs. A moth-eaten braided rug that looked like it had seen better days decorated the floor as did a small group of little boys who were shooting marbles.

They looked up as I entered, curious to see who this strange girl was. The tallest one stood up, a scrawny boy with a missing front tooth and dark brown hair that stuck up in a stubborn cowlick. His brown eyes looked me up and down before he grunted and pointed towards a doorway. I lifted an eyebrow at him before opening the door. It was another room, much like the one I had just been standing in, except smaller and filled with cigarette smoke. Here there were two tables and more chairs, and around them sat a total of maybe fifteen to twenty boys and a few girls ranging in ages from ten to twenty. Blinking from the smoke as it stung my eyes, I peered around as the room grew totally silent. I did not see Cinder.

"Well, well, well, this must be Spot's new companion." I didn't like the nasty tone the young man who stood up and strode to where I was standing used, and I shrank back from him slightly before remembering that I shouldn't show fear. The boy was tall, with beautiful black hair that parted in the middle and fell slightly scruffy on either side of his forehead. His eyes were dark blue, almost violet color and they were damn beautiful as well. Actually everything about the guy was attractive. He had a lean build with wide shoulders and muscular arms, showed off by the ivory colored undershirt he wore. Over that, was a deep blue vest that fell a little past his waist and blended in with the black trousers he had on as well.

The only thing that didn't have me swooning at this guy's feet was the icy, indifferent cast to his face and the fact that I was aware that this had to be Spook. He spoke with an odd burr to his words which I placed as sounding vaguely Scottish. Grasping my upper arm in a tight grip, he pulled me past all the newsies who sat watching, interested looks on their faces before pointing at a sullen looking girl with ginger colored hair.

"Sass show our guest upstairs to my room." The girl did as she was told, pushing me towards a narrow staircase which I climbed, the girl hot on my heels. We reached a dimly lit landing that was littered with doorways, and the girl knocked on the closest one. A muffled voice indicated that we could enter, so the girl pulled the door open and practically threw me inside. Cinder looked up from where she sat on a bed in a nest of blankets, her eyes wide with surprise, red hair slightly mussed. She looked as if she had just woken up, and it took her a second to recognize me before her eyes dimmed slightly and she looked away.

"Spook said you wanted to talk to me, I don't know what you'd have to say." Nodding towards a chair, she hitched a blanket higher around her shoulders and coughed. I studied her intently to see if I could spot signs of Spook's abusive nature, but I could see nothing. She wore a faded green cotton shift that left her arms bare and there were no bruises marring the perfect whiteness of her skin.

"Spot wanted to make sure that you were okay," I said finally. Cinder gave me a level look, her eyes more green than blue at the moment. Scratching absently at a spot on one of her wrists she finally laughed, bitterly.

"Tell Spot that I'm perfectly alright, Spook would never hurt me. I know he seems to think that Spook is this huge, crazy, violent guy but he isn't." I looked straight into her eyes as she told me this and either she was a damn good liar or what she was saying was the God's honest truth. Looking away in confusion, I heard the door open and looked back to see Spook entering the room. Cinder's face lit up at the sight of him and he gave her a gentle smile. Now I was really thrown for a loop. What the fuck was going on here? Did Spot the ghost lie to me about Spook hitting Cinder? Or had that not happened yet? What if it never happened at all, what was the real reason behind me being here? The only thing I knew for certain now was that Spot was going to die, and he was going to die before the start of the New Year.

'But that's three months away' I wailed to myself. Shaking my head I must have looked miserable because Cinder suddenly clambered out of the bed and put her hand on my shoulder. Looking up at her, I wondered if Spot was right, if maybe Spook was a different person around her and if that were the case then maybe his violent side would show eventually.

"When I left Harlem, I was in love with Spook. I ended up being with Spot because I'm young and I figured that those feelings could happen again and Spot treated me well. But Spot's the one with the temper, Riot. He doesn't hit, but he can be a very mean, cold person. Running Brooklyn is what matters to him the most; he was always going off to fight in turf wars or drinking. He complained about never seeing me, but he didn't notice me until I wasn't there anymore." Moving away from me, she wrapped a thin arm around Spook's waist. He looked down at her and brushed some of her errant locks out of her face and I was struck dumb by the looks that passed between them.

Cinder and Spook were in love with each other. Honestly, truly, in love with each other. I could see it in the softening of Spook's hard face, and the gentle way he moved her back to the bed, draping a blanket around her once more. There was no way someone who treated their significant other in such a way could beat them within an inch of their life. I refused to believe it. I had known abusive boyfriends and it's fairly easy to spot them. True, there are the ones who creep up on you without warning, but the jerks I had known fairly reeked of assholishness. Spook didn't strike me as one of these guys. Sure I bet he wasn't very nice to his newsies, but as a leader he had adopted Spot's attitude. He wasn't there to be their father-figure, he was there to make sure they did their jobs and didn't die on the streets.

But for as much as I didn't believe that Spook could hurt Cinder, I also didn't think that Spot's ghost had any reason to lie to me. I was here for a reason and although it wasn't slapping me in the face, there had to be one. Letting out a frustrated grunt, I stood up and walked over to a small window. Turning around once more I leaned against it.

"So what do I tell Spot? That you're not coming back ever?"

"She ain't," Spook stated matter-of-factly. Crossing his arms, he walked over to the bed and sat down, giving me a look of withering disgust as if I should have already known the answer to that question. Swallowing hard, my mouth and throat suddenly dry; I cocked my head and waited.

"Tell Spot that I've gone home to stay, and if he has anything else to say to me he can be a man about it and come see me himself."

Ouch. He wasn't going to like that one, I could already tell.

"Can you give me a reason why?"

"I ran into Spook a month ago and I realized that I still had feelings for him. So we started spending some time together and it just happened. It's nothing Spot really did, I just want to live in Harlem again and be with someone else."

Shit, he really wasn't going to like this at all.

"What happened?" When I went outside, Flint, Grim, and Silver bombarded me with questions all at once. I didn't answer them immediately; my mind was awhirl with thoughts and emotions. I felt cold, and small, and alone. Shoving my hands into my pockets, I started walking away from Harlem in a brisk pace. The other three caught up to me easily enough and thankfully, they stopped pestering me. I didn't want to talk about it at all, and honestly I didn't feel like it was their business.

All I wanted to do was go to Brooklyn and go to sleep. I supposed that I could go to Manhattan, but for some reason I felt the need to make sure Spot was alright. That compulsion in itself unnerved me and I groaned to myself. The last thing I needed to do was become attracted to the King of fucking Brooklyn.

We reached Manhattan in no time at all it seemed, due to the fact that I was practically running the whole way. Silver said good-bye and made me promise to come see her tomorrow. I nodded, and gave her a slight smile which seemed to appease her for she left with no arguments. Flint bid us both a good-night and headed off towards the Bronx, but Grim insisted on walking me at least over the bridge. I hoped that Spot had remembered to send someone to meet me for I was still slightly unsure of my way around Brooklyn.

A slight breeze picked up as we walked along, not speaking. Half-way through Manhattan, Grim took my hand in his larger, rougher one and I let him hold it. I liked Grim, honestly I did but I was too tired to try to dissuade him from courting me. It wouldn't end the way he wanted and I felt like although I barely knew him that he was too good for that.

When we reached the bridge, I saw a newsie waiting at the entrance, arms crossed, smoking a cigarette. I recognized him as a guy named Tips; I hadn't spoken to him at all and was relieved that it wasn't one of the ones I knew better.

Grim pulled me aside before I went on my way, and hesitantly reached out a hand to stroke my hair before ducking his head in embarrassment. I gave him a sad smile to which he responded by leaning forward and kissing me on the lips briefly.

"I'll see you around kid, you can count on it" he murmured into my ear before pulling away and heading towards the Bronx. I watched him go for a minute or two, my hand straying up to touch my mouth as I processed what had just happened. Sighing deeply, I walked over to Tips who just raised an eyebrow at me and smirked slightly before we went to the lodging house.

Once there, I stumbled upstairs and into the girl's room where I made my way through the darkness towards my bed and curled up under the scratchy blanket without bothering to undress. I didn't sleep, just lay there thinking. I so didn't want to face Spot tomorrow but there was no way to avoid it.

In the morning as I was awakened by the thuds and whining of sleepy kids getting up too early, I reluctantly rolled out of bed and borrowed a comb to run hastily through my hair. I hoped that if I got out of the lodging house before anyone else and ran down to the D.C. that perhaps Spot would be too caught up in the morning routine to notice me.

As I clattered down the stairs and raced through the front door, I was practically strangled to death as someone neatly caught me by my collar and brought me to an abrupt halt. Squeaking with indignation I turned my head to see a very tired, very irate Spot standing alongside me, a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth, cap pulled down to shield his eyes. The lean muscles in his wiry forearms stood out as he none-to-gently hauled me down the street.

"What's the fucking idea? Do you always have to throw me around like a rag doll? I'm a person too ya know." Spot seemed to barely hear my complaining as we reached the locked gates of the D.C. before anyone else. Almost throwing me, he had me in the nearest alleyway, back up against a wall, face rather too close to mine, piercing blue eyes made brighter and sharper in his pinched, pale face the dark bruises of a sleepless night standing out under his eyes.

Not bothering to beat around the bush, he flicked his cigarette away roughly, exhaling the smoke off to one side of my face. I coughed, stalling my mind racing. I did NOT want to be the one to start World War Three but thanks to me and my martyr complex I had willingly set myself up to do just that. Roughly grabbing my shoulder with an ink-stained hand, Spot grated one word that signified the beginning of the end.

"Talk"

And so I did.

Shout Outs

**Raeghann** – Yes, I just read your new POTC chapter, I shall review it but probably in the morning I'm too tired right now. It was excellent as usual by the way. Hehe, yah I liked your character profile so Bells will appear again.

**Rede** – I agree, I don't like the whole jumping all over thing that a lot of people have Spot and their characters do. I really like Grim's character a lot but I haven't decided who she'll end up with if either of them at all.

**Inscrutablex** – Thank you! I'll try my best.

**Dimonah Tralon** – Thank you! I'm hoping the Cinder/Spook thing isn't becoming confusing or muddled. I wasn't sure if I screwed up this chapter or not. Lemme know what you think.

**SkyShadow** – Whoo more cookies! Yeah I don't know what would happen if someone DID pinch Spot's cheek.

Spot: Try it and find out…

Or…maybe not…::coughs::

**Lady of Tir Na Nog** – Of course I can forgive you, life is life and it gets in the way of things all the time. Hope everything is well with you and yours.


	12. Chapter Twelve

A/N – I know it may seem I'm going to dwell on some unimportant things in these next few chapters but I'm trying to develop the relationship between Riot and the Newsie kids. I can't exactly have her or any of them getting attached to her when she's only been there supposedly for a few days to a week now can I? So sit back, relax and all will happen in due time, I promise.

Spot: She's crossin' her fingers behind her back guys…

Hehehe...

- Riot

_"Roughly grabbing my shoulder with an ink-stained hand, Spot grated one word that signified the beginning of the end. _

_"Talk," he said, and so I did"_

"Rather shitty weather we're having, don't you think?"

"Riot…"

"I mean it was fine yesterday now it's so cold and rainy today, brrr!" Attempting to wrench free, I was met with only the icy blueness of Brooklyn's King an inch away from mine, our noses almost pressing together. Spot's jaw clenched and I could see the bunched muscles working as he tried to control his temper. He was making a rather valiant attempt that I knew would fail.

"What…the…hell…happened?"

"She doesn't want to come home, Spot. She said she's fine and she doesn't want to leave Spook." I figured brutal honesty would be something that Spot was used to and would appreciate. Although he shakily lifted a corner of his mouth in salute to my bravery, I could see in his eyes the utter shock to his system of Cinder's betrayal.

"What?" he asked stupidly, backing away, his hand dropping from my collar like I had stitched hot coals into its seams. Staggering a few feet, he lashed out with his cane until he caught the cobblestones, and held himself up. The circles under his eyes had just darkened if possible, and he looked like he had aged twenty years in twenty minutes. My heart ached for him and I stretched out a hand which he snarled at.

"What else did she say?" I opened my mouth but words didn't come. Shaking my head mutely, I felt fear rise like bile in the back of my throat as he lurched forward and captured my chin in a numbing grip. Ripping it up so that I was looking directly at him, he jerked it slightly with each over-pronounced word.

"What...else...did…she…say?" The words tumbled out of my mouth mechanically; I barely took a breath as I struggled to spit them out as fast as I could.

"She loves Spook; she has for a few months now. She said all you care about is Brooklyn, nothing else besides that. Harlem is her home and always was, and Spook would never hurt her." I tactfully omitted the part about him being a man and passing all of this along himself. I didn't desire to get a black eye or worse in the mood he was getting himself into.

Throwing me away from him as if I was nothing more than a piece of trash someone had discarded on the street, his actions mirrored in his lightly colored eyes, he whirled and stalked away apparently having too much dignity to run. I watched him go, a heaviness settling in my stomach like slush on a raw winter's day. Opening and closing my jaw a few times, I winced at the pain knowing that I was going to have some dandy bruises in a few minutes.

Just then the noise and muffled footsteps of Brooklyn's finest arriving for another day at work entered my senses and I was surrounded by the sounds and presence of the group. I felt people put hands on my shoulders and ask me what was wrong; I recognized Duck, Bookworm, and Sprite's voices followed surprisingly by Emotions but I just shrugged them gently away and when the gate opened, bought my papers and quick-stepped it out into the maze of streets and alleys that was Brooklyn.

It wasn't fifteen minutes later when I was standing on a corner, scratching my head and looking around with a befuddled light in my eyes that I realized I was lost. Thank God a wry, if not friendly voice that I recognized called out to me a few moments afterwards, and I glanced to my right to see Bells sitting on a crate in front of a small grocer's store.

"Dummy, taking off like that and you only having been here for not even a week, you trying to die?"

I briefly stared at her when she said 'die' and it took me a few seconds to snap out of it. She carried her papers slung over her shoulder held together by a rope, her hair un-brushed and lifting slightly in the damp wind. I noticed that she spoke with an English accent, and her words were more than not spoken in a well-educated tone. Slightly irritated, she stood up and held a hand out, beckoning me towards her. I obliged, tucking my own papers underneath my arm and dashing through puddles over to her side.

"You really shouldn't be running off alone, if you don't know your way around." I shrugged and we walked along quietly before she cast a glance in my direction, clearing her throat a few times. I was shocked when I looked at her to see a violent upheaval in the fabric of her front pocket. Staring with an open curiosity, she laughed at my expression and gently extracted a baby mouse from her pocket, cooing at it and letting it sit on her finger as she gently rubbed it's ears with one of her other fingers.

"I bet Spot doesn't know about this one either," I joked to which she laughed and winked at me. Then her face sobered and we drifted a part for an hour or so to sell before I found her right back at my side. Taking me by the sleeve, she drew me down a nearby street that was close to the water. I wondered briefly how I had made my way down by the docks again after going in the opposite direction, but just concluded that New York was a maze too large for me to try to ever master.

"Whenever Spot is very upset, he goes to a spot near where we all gather. It's in a warehouse, he can see our docks from a window, and yet nobody knows about it. So he can keep an eye on us and his territory and still be by himself. It's where he is now, I know it."

"So why don't you go make sure he's okay?" Bells laughed a bitter sound that somehow didn't sound right coming from her. Twisting her hand up in a mocking gesture, she huffed out a breath and stilled herself as a flash of cloth fluttered by one of the open windows. Pitching her voice a tad lower, she pulled me closer to the building yet made sure we weren't seen.

"You should know that Spot's a rather volatile character shall we say? He made that abundantly clear with the fingerprints on your face, and don't try to say you got them anywhere else, you didn't have them this morning on your way out the door."

"How would you know, you were still in bed!" Bells fluttered a hand and made a 'that's not important' wave. Putting hands on either one of my shoulders, I drew back at her sudden closeness, not that she was offensive in any way, I just wasn't keen on being in close proximity with most people.

"Look for whatever reason you're one of the ones who can get under Spot's skin, and help him get out what's bothering him. He's like my brother, and we're close but we fight too much it seems or I don't know what his deal is but he lets you in. I don't know why, I haven't figured it out yet, but by God he let's you in. So you have to go to him now, go and make sure he's not causing himself anymore harm then what he's already endured today." Bells shoved me gently towards the warehouse door, and I swallowed hard before dropping my papers underneath an overhang where it was dry.

Assuring me that she'd watch out for my property, she gently dropped the mouse back into her pocket and leaned up against the wall, her thick hair curtaining her eyes as I coughed and rolled my head on my tense neck muscles before opening up the door and peering in. Because the sky was so dark and oppressive already, the light in the warehouse wasn't much better.

There was nothing on the ground floor save a few bulky shapes covered in dusty blankets. A staircase snaked up the side of one far off wall, and at the top I could see the muted glow of a lantern or candle shining down from the open doorway. I could hear the rain pounding down on the tin roof, loud and rolling. I vaguely hoped that Bells was alright, but she must be. She was close enough to the docks to go for help, as well as the lodging house.

Tip-toeing across the floor, I watched for a short while the waves and clouds of dust my feet kicked up as I went along. Much to my shock and surprise, I heard the tinny, mechanical music of a jewelry box playing in the tomb-like atmosphere. It had a distinctive Celtic sound to it and I strained to try to make it out. Inching my way up the stairs, I could see the footsteps of Spot where he had gone before me. My throat was dry and it hurt when I swallowed. I attributed that to the dust and nothing more although I was sweating in the chilly air.

Up the stairs I went, my mind suddenly remembering one of my favorite scenes of my favorite musical, 'The Phantom of the Opera' where Christine unmasks the Phantom after her night spent down below ground. I wasn't sure what I was expecting to see when I peeked around the door jamb but it certainly wasn't the sight of a seventeen, eighteen year old boy, sitting on a rickety chair, his head supported by dirty hands sobbing brokenly as if his heart was going to rip.

A stair squeaked loudly in protest as I went to retreat, and Spot's face shot out of his protective embrace, tear-stained and furious. A lock of his hair fell into one eye, and he wiped his nose on his sleeve while inhaling, making a clogged sound. Lashing out, he reached me in two long strides, and ripped me to my feet, his face twisting into something purely demonic as his anger coursed through him.

With amazing strength given that my knees were knocking as if I stood facing a stiff wind, I pushed his arms down and gathered him to me in a tight hug. He fought me, and he fought me hard, but in the end my persistence won out for he finally dropped his head to my shoulder as if exhausted and let a fresh bout of grief overtake him, his whole frame shuddering against me.

"Shhh…"I didn't know what else to say but apparently words didn't matter, because he seemed perfectly content to lay his head and weep. I wasn't sure if this was the day that Hell was freezing over or what, because I was under the impression that Brooklyn boys didn't cry. I found myself moving backwards until I felt my knees hit another chair, and I sat down hard, Spot finally lifting himself off of me, wiping his nose on his sleeve, followed by a quick swipe across his eyes. He staggered towards the other chair, and sat down and we found ourselves staring at each other across the dimly lit room, the only noise the sputtering of the lantern and the rain on the roof.

"If you tell anyone about this…"

"Save it," I said slightly harshly. Spot smiled at me, his eyes bloodshot and face pale, but a true smile nonetheless. Inclining his head at me, he lit a cigarette, the smoke wafting away only to disappear. Lifting a bottle up and shaking it in my direction, I watched the amber liquid slosh around with a queasy feeling in my stomach.

"Feel like joining me?" My thoughts ran to Bells standing outside and the fact that it couldn't be ten o'clock in the morning yet. But the steel in Spot's voice brooked no argument although he had put his request in the form of a question. I was suddenly reminded of a Reel Big Fish song and I softly sang the words under my breath as I rose and took the bottle gingerly from Spot's grasp.

"And if you're drinking well you know that you're my friend and I'll say I think I'll have myself a beer…" Spot gave me a confused look which I ignored and took a healthy swallow. It was practically pure, raw, undiluted whiskey. I gagged and almost brought the whole mouthful back up, but the amused light in Spot's eyes made me swallow it and hold my stomach as I thrust the bottle back towards him. He made a motion with his hand for me to pull my chair closer, so I obliged, sitting close yet far enough away so that I wasn't directly in his line of fire.

"Damn, you must have a stomach made of stone. It's way too early for that rotgut." Spot snorted and took a swallow out of the bottle, inhaling on his cigarette right after. I hoped the alcohol wasn't easily flammable as a spark landed near the bottle's opening.

"Not that early, Riot. Someone else is drinking somewhere right now." I shook my head and then hastily held my hands up as I noticed Spot's mouth tightening, his lips growing slightly white as they compressed into a thin line.

"Hey to each their own, ya know? When my grandmother died I was drunk for a week." This caught Spot's interest for some reason. He eyed me before tipping the bottle back and handing it over. I took another timid swallow and handed it back.

Sometime later on we stumbled out of the warehouse and made our way back to the lodging house. We parted ways in the dark of the sleeping building and went to bed, only to start our day a few hours later. Days went by, then weeks, then one morning I woke up and realized that it was the day before Thanksgiving. Excited shrieks roused the whole house as Hide and Seek catapulted down the hallway screeching that it was snowing.

Grumbles and complaining went before the older kids as they examined clothing that wasn't yet winter-proofed, holes needed to be patched up and outer-wear purchased. I myself had nothing until a moldy coat that had seen better days slapped me in the face as I exited the girl's room. Spot stood nearby, laughter creasing his pale face as I ripped the coat off of my head, eager for a fight.

"Wear it, you'll freeze to death," was all he said before leaving. My eyes watched him go, wary and yet hopeful at the same time. I didn't know then exactly what it was I wanted from him, whether just a kind word or something much more emotional. Every night he came home with a bottle of booze and every night he would find me, arching his eyebrow no matter what I was doing, demanding I follow him silently to his room where I sat, and listened while he drank and rambled on.

Some nights I wanted to be other places, not knowing when exactly I had taken on the role of confessor to this edgy boy. Others I tucked him into bed, drawing the thin blanket over his still form, checking to see that he was still breathing, and wiping the tracks of the bitter tears he sometimes shed off of his lean face.

Someone knocking me against the wall jolted me out of my thoughts and I looked over to see a grinning Sprite and Bookworm making faces at me, their faces already swaddled with scarves, cabbie hats on their heads, worn out gloves adorning their hands. I tugged the coat on and chased after them, holding my hat onto my head, pumping my legs with all my might.

The snow-laden wind greeted us at the door, howling and clutching at the edges of our sleeves, hungry fingers trying to pull us outside into the freezing day. I gave Sprite and Bookworm a wide-eyed look before yanking my hat down to shield my eyes and charging outside. Hide and Seek were leaping into a snowdrift, not paying any attention to a frustrated Duck who kept yelling that they would freeze to death if they kept getting intentionally wet.

Grasping one of the twins around the middle, I half-slid, half-ran down the sidewalk much to the yowling delight of the little boy, who clutched me around my waist, hollering loud enough to wake the dead. I almost bowled over a tall form when I rounded a corner, but they reached out and steadied me with large, gentle hands. Putting the little boy down, they ran ahead to the D.O., a flash of a red scarf around apple-colored cheeks the last glimpse I got of them before the white whirlwind of the snowstorm swallowed them up.

Amused, green eyes flickered over my face, brushing a veil of snowflakes that covered my cheeks, eyelashes, and nose. Grim wore a cabbie hat pulled low over his black hair, and a faded navy scarf hid the scar that snaked around his neck like an angry smile.

"Grim? What the hell are you doing here?" I rarely saw him, he was busy with matters in the Bronx, and what with my newfound role as Spot's babysitter, and I saw him once or twice every two weeks. I felt a lurching in my chest as I realized that I had missed seeing him, his expressive eyes, stoic face, and hearing his ruined voice. He smiled ruefully and stepped neatly aside to get out of a screeching twin's way as he chased after his brother, followed closely by a laughing Sprite, Duck, and Bookworm.

"I think it oughta be obvious, dummy. I'm here to see you," he said, his voice a raspy growl. I felt my cheeks turning pink and not just from the bone-chilling cold. We walked alongside each other towards the D.O., until Grim put a hand onto my sleeve, stopping me.

"Do you really hafta work today? I'll loan ya some money if you need it, and you can work in the afternoon." I hesitated, while Spot was not big on working everyday, he nevertheless worked hard when he did and expected his gang to do the same. Grim noticed my hesitation, and it seemed to embolden him for he took my hand and started dragging me off in the opposite direction. I slid and flung out my arms, whirling them around in circles to try to gain my balance, shrieking with hysterical laughter as I lost the battle and fell on my ass.

Grim helped me to my feet, a lock of his black hair falling into one of his eyes, laughing at me as he set about brushing me off with a business like air although he spent quite some time ensuring that my rear was snow-free. Slapping his hands away I found myself suddenly quite close to the boy as he bent close to me, his breath warm on my lips. He smelled like coffee and cigarettes, mixed in with the cheap, harsh soap that the street kids purchased for a penny a bar from an old washerwoman in Manhattan.

Grim's hands tightened on my shoulders, his fingers reddened from the cold and he pulled me close and ducked his head, pressing his mouth to mine. I immediately got that feeling again, the one that told me this was wrong and nothing but a world of hurt was going to come out of it, but I flung that thought away and wrapped my arms around his neck. We stood that way until a loud cough came from nearby and we broke apart, dazed expressions on our faces.

A very irate looking Spot stood nearby, his hands folded neatly over the top of his cane, head cocked to one side, a dangerous icy light dancing in his eyes. Twisting his mouth, he smiled in an un-friendly way, his eyebrows lifting as he addressed us.

"Am I interrupting something?" Grim's brows lowered until they furrowed over his eyes, like angry looking caterpillars. I felt the insane urge to laugh and waited for the pissing contest to start.

"Yeah y'are."

"Good. Riot? Comin' to work?"

"Well actually I…"

"Good, let's go." Spot held out his hand, which was encased in a woolen glove with the tips of the fingers either worn off or cut away. I felt my heart rising in my throat as I darted looks between the suddenly impassive Grim, and the fairly bursting with animosity Conlon. Pleading with my eyes for Grim to forgive me, I slowly walked towards Conlon, letting him wrap his fingers around my own, jerking me close to him, tucking my arm underneath his arm, my elbow resting close by his armpit.

I looked over my shoulder as we walked away, watching a dejected looking Grim until he was nothing more than a dark shape that I lost in the swirling chaos of the snowstorm. I felt my stomach boiling with anger, and regret, and shame. But my heart was thudding against my ribcage as I looked cautiously at Spot's face. His jaw was clenched, and his ashen lashes were lowered over his eyes, not allowing me entrance to his inner thoughts. But although he held my hand tightly with his own, he wasn't mean about it, helping me over snowdrifts and to cross icy patches on the sidewalk.

It wasn't until I realized that we weren't heading towards the D.O. that I knew today was going to be just another one in a rapid succession of days that were meant to confuse and frustrate me. Sighing deeply, I burrowed my mouth and chin under the cover of the ancient coat's collar that I wore and let my thoughts wander. All would explain itself in due time, of that I was certain. And with that final thought, I let Spot drag me off to wherever it was that he was taking me.

**Shout Outs!**

**Allie – Thanks so much !**

**IrishLass08 – Yes I quite like Grim a lot myself which will only complicate the story line in my head as I choose, but we'll see. **

**Raeghann – I hope I've reviewed your story since, I'll have to double-check. I don't want to hurt Grim either, I really like his character. I'll come up with something, I promise.**

**Twilight-Maiden – Thank you! I appreciate your review. **

**Voided -- Yeah I tend to switch around on myself a lot when I'm writing a story. I'm sticking the main outline I set for myself, but I've changed things around a tad as I go.**

**Sky Shadow – Hehe…yeah Spot may die soon, or he may not.**

**Spot: Way to mess with my life, Riot…please keep it up. ::grumbles::**

**::Riot holds Spot down:: Quick! Pinch his cheeks!**

**Spot: aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!!!!**

**Emotions – I really don't think I'm going to kill Spot off, he's so tormented in this I think he should get the chance to be happy.**

**Lady of Tir Na Nog – Hahaha….I'm sure he's shakin' in his boots right now.**

**Spot: Am not! ::is lying yet again::**

**Rede—Yes I remember having the same thoughts as Cinder before as well and boy it didn't turn out right. I'm still working out the ending so I can't say whether or not Riot is going to go home or if Spot is actually going to die. But like most stories I write, I like happy endings.**

**Dimonah Tralon – Ahem speaking of writer's block…::hangs head:: I did get some that I worked past, but it was enough! Hopefully that doesn't happen again anytime soon. Glad you weren't confused!**


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**A/N – First off, I'm so sorry for the delay. Holidays were HECTIC! Also I apologize if this chapter seems random and all over the place, I'm hoping that it isn't, but Damnit some of this stuff needed to happen for well, my own purposes. I'm half awake as I'm writing this so for god's sake I'm sorry if it sucks, but let me know what to change! Thanks guys :D**

**Riot**

"Where are we going then?"

Spot didn't answer me directly, just kept his swift, sure pace as he strode along the icy, snow covered sidewalk. I focused on the puffs of frozen air that drifted away from our mouths and idly tugged on my hand to see if he ever intended on loosening his grip. Obviously, he didn't for he cast me an irritated look over his narrow shoulder and quickened his step.

"We need food," he finally said his voice slightly raspy. The sky had lightened to a pearly gray color and the rest of Brooklyn had awoken. I could hear the voices of the newsies hollering out the headlines and from what I heard, we weren't missing any great bylines this fine, freezing morning.

"Food?"

"For tomorrow, dummy, it's Thanksgiving." I crossed my eyes at him and stuck out my tongue as he just laughed at me almost rudely before nudging my side with a sharp elbow as if to say that his laughter wasn't to be taken personally.

"Who the hell is gonna cook it?" Spot's blue gaze was rather smug as he looked at me once more, a smirk showing from behind his ratty scarf.

"You and the other girls, who else?"

I burst into half-hysterical laughter and shook my head at him, slapping my knee and stopping to bend over, and hug my stomach. He had stopped along with me, a broad smile appearing at the noticeable lack of confidence I had at that notion.

"You'll all do fine, you're female cooking is something you're born knowing how to do." Secretly I thought I was a great cook, but I wouldn't let him have the satisfaction of thinking THAT particular idea was true.

"But I could burn just about anything you put in front of me," I said solemnly. He rolled his eyes and started walking again, his hand clasping mine firmly in his own once more. I was sort of glad at that, it WAS rather icy out and the added heat of his hand helped to keep at least one of mine pretty much thawed.

"So where are we going to get food?" Spot just gave me a mysterious grin and shook his head. I glowered at the back of his head, amusing myself by imagining just how red the tips of his ears could get as it seemed to get colder the higher the sun rose in the sky. I was still angry with him about the rude way he had ripped me away from Grim's company and felt a guilty jolt hit me as I thought about poor Grim trekking back to the Bronx by himself.

When we finally stopped walking, it was down a side alley and to a back door whose stoop was littered with trash. Spot rapped on the solid oak with his knuckles, and the door swung open a few minutes later by a short man with thinning white hair and hard, gray eyes. He stared at Spot for a few seconds before breaking out into gruff laughter and slinging an arm around Spot's shoulders.

"Hello there and good day to ye Conlon, why have ye graced me with yer presence this fine mornin'?" His Irish accent warmed me to my toes for some reason and I found myself smiling at the little leprechaun of a man. Spot shot me a look over his shoulder commanding me to follow him as we entered a bustling kitchen. It was warm and I breathed a huge sigh of pleasure as I stretched and stripped my sodden gloves off to let the heat get at my fingers.

"Hey Duncan, let an old friend work off a turkey with all the trimmin's?" I blanched at the word 'work', but eyed Spot curiously. The man, Duncan gave Spot a long appraising look before snagging two stained aprons off of a hook and after telling us to hang up our coats and hats, threw them at us and told us to start scrubbing dishes.

Two hours later found me elbows deep in greasy, dirty, water topped off with a thick foam of stained suds cursing the Brooklyn king under my breath. He was actually working with me, drying off the dishes as fast as I could sling a rag across them and get the food off. Our fingers grazed and he lingered at the touch, giving me an unreadable look. I flushed slightly and turned my head away, tucking a strand of my black hair behind one ear, leaving it sopping against my cheek.

"What the hell are we doing here?"

"Earning a Thanksgiving dinner from one of the finest pubs in Brooklyn. They'll have food for their wealthier customers who want to eat out tomorrow night and we are going to get some and take it back for everyone. Manhattan will be there as well with whatever they could scrape together. We've been doing it for the past three years." Spot shrugged and I paused in what I was doing, my mouth hanging open.

"What?" he snapped at me, taking a dish out of my hands with an impatient tug. It almost slipped out of my hands and dropped onto the dirty floor. I closed my mouth with an audible snap and shook my head.

"Nothing, I just…"

"Didn't think I cared, right? I'm some heartless, cold bastard because of what Cinder said about me yeah? Don't believe everything ya hear kid." Spot's mouth was drawn in a thin, unyielding line across his pale face. I flinched away from his icy tone and went back to methodically dipping the last plate into the greasy water and half-heartedly scrubbing it. Spot put his hands over mine then, and I looked up to see his face close to mine.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, his breath warm on my ear. Then he took the plate out of my suddenly clumsy fingers and walked away, drying it with his rag. I stood, staring after him, watching him dodge and weave amongst the kitchen help, exchanging a friendly jibe here and there, shaking a hand and slapping a back before he stopped in front of the bald, portly man Duncan, holding the plate before him his face alight with an unspoken challenge.

Duncan inspected the plate with the solemnity of a judge before smiling and nodding. Saying something to Spot, he went off to reside over the roasting of fifteen large turkeys. Spot came back, chuckling to himself, rubbing the back of his neck, the open collar of his shirt hanging down to expose part of a lean chest. Seeing me looking, he raised a pale eyebrow with another challenging smirk to which I flushed and turned quickly away, my hands pulling on the knotted strings of the dirty apron slung about my hips.

"See anything you like?" he asked me, lifting up his arms and trapping me neatly in-between them, his palms resting flat on either side of my face against the wall behind me. I crooked an eyebrow at him and sniffed the air in front of his mouth. He shot me a quizzical look and I smiled flatly.

"I was just making sure that you aren't drunk," I said before ducking underneath one of his arms and slinging my apron onto the back of a wooden chair nearby. Tapping a cigarette out of the pouch in my front shirt pocket and tucking it behind one of my ears, I almost made it outside before a hand wrapped neatly around my wrist and turned me quickly.

Spot stood so close to me, that I literally had my nose pressed into his collar bone. In the dim light of the hallway that we stood in where everyone hung their coats or shawls, Spot's eyes were a dark blue and they weren't laughing at my previous statement.

"What's that supposed to mean, Riot?" A muscle in his jaw gave a nervous twitch as he studied me intently. Suddenly feeling tired, and claustrophobic I pushed at his chest with one hand, pulling on the other one that he still held tight in his grasp.

"You figure it out, what the hell is your problem?"

"My problem Riot? I didn't do anything to you for you to be talking to me like this, so spill it, what the hell did I do?"

"First off, what gives you the right to treat Grim the way you did this morning? What if I WANTED to spend the day with him? You didn't need to pull that macho, 'I am male, let me piss on Riot's leg to mark my territory; hear me roar' shit either. A simple, 'hey help me earn some food for Thanks-fucking-giving' would have sufficed. And what's with this," here I darted my eyes towards his half-unbuttoned shirt and jerked on my imprisoned hand once more.

"I wanted to surprise you with coming to this pub, there's something special I wanted you to see after we were done working. I'm sorry if I was rude earlier;" the devilish glint in his eyes and slow, crooked smirk told me that if he was sorry, I was the Pope, "but as for the rest you're right Riot."

"Wait, what?" Spot had taken his hat off when we entered the kitchen, and his ashen blonde hair needed a haircut badly. I resolved to have Bookworm do it, she was the best when it came to cutting the boys' and anyone's hair for that matter. I was jolted by the thought that I had just 'resolved' to do something as simple as make someone cut Spot's hair. He wasn't my responsibility yet here I was making these everyday decisions in my head for him as if I was his girl, and goddamnit it somehow felt RIGHT. Oh Christ, I was doomed; there was no getting around it.

"I had no right to take you away from Grim; I suppose I just got over-protective. Got to look after the girls in the group right? And you are my favorite one, and all." With a closed fist, he gently pushed at my chin as if 'stunt-hitting' me and winked. Whoa there, what did he say? His 'favorite one'? What the…

"Let's go, its supper time by now and I'm starved. Duncan will feed us and we'll get to have some fun like I promised." Supper time already? Good Lord we had been here almost all day. It was bound to be dark out by now and even colder than it had been earlier. I followed Spot silently as we dodged people in the kitchen, who were running around like chickens with their head's cut off as the dinner hour approached.

Going through a swinging door, we entered a bustling common room in a warm, clean, brightly lit pub. There were tables with large candles as center pieces and rough-looking although pretty light green tablecloths were draped over each table. Spot sat down at a table that was off to the side, but still near the center of the room which I saw was clear. There was a raised platform nearby and a few men sat playing instruments, their music decidedly Celtic sounding in nature. A few couples danced on the empty space of floor and I watched them quietly as my mind reeled.

A buxom, red-cheeked girl who apparently knew Spot very well by the inviting smile and wink she gave him, nodded at Spot's request for two glasses of hard cider and bowls of stew and disappeared in the bustle of the cozily crowded room. I tapped my fingers listlessly on the table top until Spot's hand came down on top of mine to still my nervous gesture. Shooting a glance at him, I saw that he had a fond look in his eyes as he smiled at me. Clearing my throat, I lit my cigarette and blew out a lungful.

"Where is all this affection coming from?" I knew he had heard me, but he seemed to suddenly have developed selective hearing for he just gave me a curious look before squeezing my hand and pointing towards the center of the floor. I leaned back in my chair, my eyebrows climbing my forehead as I saw little Betty, the girl with the limp who fed the ducks in the park with Spot every Sunday afternoon step into the center ring with another little girl and two teenage girls. They wore dresses embroidered with green, orange and white twisting Celtic designs, and while not as short as modern day Irish step-dancing outfits, they were short enough so that you could see their feet and legs up to mid-shin.

The musicians struck a lively chord and the pub was soon full of rolling, leaping tunes and the sound of rhythmic clattering as the girls danced and jumped. I couldn't believe that little Betty with such a pronounced limp could dance as beautifully as she was. Her yellow hair was shiny and it bobbed up and down on her shoulders in loose curls. Her eyes were bright and I hadn't seen her this happy before ever.

With a thunderous clacking and furious whirling, the girls' ended the crescendo of their dance as the last engaging note trembled in the air. The clapping was instantaneous and all four girls basked in the glow, their cheeks flushed, and chests heaving. A few dances later, and I sat at the table feeling pleasantly full from my stew and a tad tipsy from the cider.

"Spot!" Spot stood and whirled Betty around, as she charged towards where we sat her limp making her steps drag; I imagined that she had to be horribly tired from all the dancing. Putting her down into a seat next to me, she smiled shyly up at me while I smiled back and offered her some of my cider. Nodding gratefully, she drank it in huge gulps and burped softly when she was done, her elfin face coloring slightly.

One of the older girls she had been dancing with came up just then, and after smiling at Spot and I, collected Betty with assurances that after she got her changed she would walk her back to the lodging house. I let out a little sigh and patted my stomach.

"Thank you that was a great surprise. I never imagined that she could dance like that because of her leg, never in a million years."

"I didn't either until Colleen that girl who just came over told me about it and I had to come see for myself. So I did, and Betty was damn embarrassed when she saw me in the crowd for the first time, but after that it became sort of our thing. She would get upset if I didn't come, and I'd sort of miss seeing her happy for a few hours out of her week."

I smiled warmly at him, and put my hand on top of his where it sat curled around the handle of his mug of cider. He dropped his thumb off partway and clasped the tips of my fingers into the center of his palm. Our eyes met and held, and he opened his mouth as if to say something important, for he had an earnest quality to his face.

The musicians began playing another fast song and Spot shook himself as if he had suddenly been doused with water. Standing abruptly he stuck out his hand and looked at me, that testing look on his face once more. I blinked up at him solemnly until he leaned down, took my arm, and pulled me to my feet.

"You want to DANCE?" I said to him, laughter tainting my words. He looked at me evenly, but the tone of his voice, even in the loud clash of flute, violin and drum was noticeably bitter.

"What, you'll dance with Grim, but you won't even dance with the head of the lodging house?" With that remark, I stiffened, squared my shoulders and dragged him out onto the dance floor, but not without warning him that I couldn't dance to save my life. Like Grim, it didn't take him long to see the truth of my statement. But while he did laugh with me as Grim and I had done, he pulled me close so that he could talk into my ear and I'd hear him; and began to actually TEACH me how to dance.

"Okay, put that foot here, then again, now the other one…" He winced as I stepped on his foot, but after a few minutes I had gotten the rhythm down enough to smile triumphantly as he whirled me around the small clearing, making me wish that I had skirts on to see them billow out in bright swirls of color like the other females who were dancing. Smiling vibrantly up at him, I felt his wiry forearms tighten around my waist and I was pulled lengthwise against him for the second time again that day.

Looking down at me, with his lids dropped half-way over his brilliant blue eyes, I was turning into one of the giggly, flirtatious girls that made me want to upchuck everywhere back in modern times. Blaming it mutely on the cider, I let Spot twirl me around until I felt dizzy and begged to be able to sit down. Spot drew a pocket watch out of his vest and frowned at it, shaking his head and pulling me to a corner near the kitchen door we had entered the main room from earlier.

It was nowhere near quiet where were standing either, so I curled my hands in the front of Spot's suspenders and pulled him forward and slightly down to my height so that I could tell him what a good time I'd had. I wasn't sure if he heard me or not, for I saw him studying my lips closely as if trying to read them. I barely had anytime to react when he slid a hand alongside my cheek, cupping my chin in his palm and sliding his fingers to rest tangled in my hair. Swiping a thumb slowly over my lips, he licked his own and then bent forward and kissed me.

An electric current raced through me from the tips of my toes to the very nerve-endings of my lips as he slid his other arm around my waist, and pulling me against him, bending his knee slightly so that I could rest on it. Rest I did, half-leaning, half sitting for my own knees had turned into jelly. As soon as I did lean into and on him, he set about his job of thoroughly kissing me once more, one of his hands stroking the hollow at the base of my throat.

I tasted the cider, biting and sweet and I closed my eyes before tightening my grip on his shirtfront and just letting go, forgetting everything except the boy in front of me, focusing on just us. When we finally separated, I licked my lips in a dazed sort of shock and I saw Spot's gaze drop down to what I was doing, his blue eyes darkening to a deep cobalt blue as he smirked and leaned forward once again, to capture my mouth with his but only briefly this time.

"We have to get the food back," I gasped out as he pulled away the second time. Flashing me an adorably disgruntled look, he nodded and straightening up, took my hand in his own. We gathered up baskets of food that was all wrapped up so that we couldn't see what it was. Spot told me that one was a turkey while the other basket that he made me carry because it was lighter was some stuff to make the rest of the meal out of.

Bundling up, we stepped outside into the frosty now night air and set about on our way back to the lodging house. I found myself smiling idiotically from time to time, always making sure that Spot didn't see me, or convincing myself that he didn't because he caught me at one point, and the answering smile that spread on his own face warmed me to my toes. It had stopped snowing, and the night sky was full of stars, but bitingly cold so we didn't dawdle.

The whole walk back, my mind was racing with new ways that this story could come to a close. Maybe Spot's ghost had been sent to bring me back to the past because I was meant to be with Spot and save him from being shot that way. If he was happy without Cinder he wouldn't need to chase after her and inevitably have Spook shoot him for interfering. But dread settled icily in the pit of my stomach as I wondered if Spot was just using me because I was a girl and on hand. He probably didn't want anything to do with me in reality when it came to a relationship; maybe he was just using me.

Either way, we didn't talk much on the walk back. It was cold, and we were lugging heavy baskets. By the time we got back to the L.H., we were tired and dragging out footsteps. It wasn't horribly late, and we didn't have to sell papers tomorrow, but I snorted and felt an over-dramatic sense of despair well up inside me at the thought of getting up early to start cooking a whole meal for twenty plus kids, as well as any Manhattan kids who showed up; with the other girls.

The L.H. was dark, apparently it was later than we thought and most everyone had gone to bed although we heard voices coming from the common room near the lobby as we snuck in. Silently waving me along ahead of him, I tip-toed in front of Spot into the kitchen where we stashed the food.

Leaning back against the counter, I breathed a quiet sigh of relief that was muffled and the air torn from my lungs as Spot trapped me, placing an arm on either side of me against the counter and catching my lips up with his own. We stayed that way for a few moments, in the quiet darkness of the kitchen the only noises the sounds of our muffled breathing and the faint voices of the kid's playing cards a few rooms away.

Spot broke away and leaned his forehead against mine so that our noses touched, and our breath intermingled and warmed each other's cheeks. Pulling away, I fumbled about, taking off my coat and draping it over the back of a chair. I could feel Spot watching me, and ignored it fairly well or so 'I' thought until he moved behind me and turned me about gently.

"I'm sorry Riot, it won't happen again. I just wanted you to know what else there was besides Grim, right under your own nose."

"And what would you say we are then?" Spot hesitated, and I, already burning on the fear of rejection put a hand up quickly and stammered out some gibberish along the lines of 'don't worry, I didn't think it meant anything, I won't do it again, or say anything, have a good night' and fairly sprinting away from him although I heard him call my name out low and urgent, trying to get me to stay so he could tell me God knows what. But I in my haste, and addled thoughts didn't want to hear whatever excuses he could conjure.

There was plenty of time to hear what he could make up in the morning to brush me off, I was sure it would have to do with alcohol and the heat of whatever moment had inspired him. And besides, I already had a date in the morning.

A hot date I couldn't miss with a turkey and an oven.

**A/N – Okay you guys HAVE to forgive me for whatever drawn out nonsense this chapter was, because it was NINE WHOLE PAGES OF DRAWN OUT NONSENSE WOO HOOO!**

**Seriously though, I did say that there were going to be a few chapters of some character/relationships/friendships building so I apologize once more and bear with me, I'm getting to the point. I THINK there's a point…somewhere…**

**I mean oh yeah there's a point, a damn good one too! ::big cheesy grin::**

**Speaking of cheese, it is fairly obvious that I love cheese, and not just the kind that makes my macaroni my favorite food ever. Sorry if the cornball cheese factor is high in this chapter as well, but it ain't gonna get any better from here on out, oh no. Well hope ya'll had good holidays and review!!**

**_Shout outs_**

**_Windy – Yay new reviewer! Thanks so much and hope you continue to read/enjoy._**

**_Mrs.dmalfoy13 – Sorry for the wait, I'll try not to let that big of a gap happen again. _**

**_Ashgrl – I'm a huge Spot fan as well, glad you like it_**

**_Bitemytoemrmoe – Thank you very much, and yes I believe you mentioned it, but you can always mention it again, I won't mind ;)_**

**_Shrouded Light – That's my favorite RBF song ever, glad you like my story. I love Grim a lot too but Spot is my favorite…and like you, right next to Race haha._**

**_Diariesofthepast1899 – Thank you so much for your review, I'm glad you like it. I hope you continue to do so and please keep leaving feedback, I always appreciate it! _**

**_Irish-Lass08 – I'm not sure Riot even knows what her plans are but she's trying hard to figure it out! Oh I'm an absolute sucker for guys with hard edges; I only really like that type. Grim, I must confess grew on me rather quickly but after this chapter I'm in love with Spot again. I'm glad I can keep an even balance between his cheesexcore and his tough side; I hope I can continue to do that right! This wasn't too cheesy of a chapter was it? ::crosses fingers::_**

**_SkyShadow – Frosted flakes are AWESOME! Mmm I haven't had those in ages; I love cereal with too much sugar in it._**

**_Spot: I can always use a hug, so feel free. ::wink::_**

**_Oh dear, bad Spot…_**

**_Uninvisible – I hope this chapter clears up Spot's feelings to an extent although he won't be straight up honest about 'em until a few more left to go. Ack, exams! Good luck with 'em. _**

**_Rede – Grim is VERY interesting, I don't usually have luck with OC male characters getting such a good response from reviewers as I've had with Grim. Hehe…comparing their what's? ::innocent look:: Yeah Spot can be a jerk, but he's a jerk that's easy to love…and want to smack around… :D_**

**_Dimonah Tralon – I love Hide and Seek too, they remind me of two twin boys that I know, verrrrrry mischievous little demons. Yeah I got writers block but this time the delay was more the holidays which are now over, thank the lord so no more worries about that! Hope you like this chapter._**

**_Raeghann – More character development in this chapter too, and yes I will come up with something for Grim, not sure what yet but he is just too damn interesting of a character to NOT work with and incorporate. Yeah, I love leaving people hanging in my stories; it's quite the common theme. I have to go review your latest updation so awaaay I go…Hope you liked this chapter, I'm sort of unsure about it. _**


	14. Chapter 14

_**Author's Note -- I know that it's been an obscene amount of time since I've updated, and I hope my old readers will still come back and let me know if this is worth continuing. I know it may be slow but I promise it will pick up, it's just been awhile since I've worked on this story so forgive me, and bear with me. **_

_**I promise that I will be updating regularly, I lost my internet access for awhile but I have it back once more so we're in business! Welcome back, I hope. **_

_**-- Riot**_

**The girl's lodging room was cold and dark when I opened my eyes the next morning. I lay still for a few seconds, trying to recap the night before, my heart fluttering like a bird trapped in my chest, a smile coming unbidden to my face. I touched my cheeks lightly with cold fingers knowing fully well that they were flushed with embarrassment and excitement. **

**"Getting to the matter at hand," I whispered to myself as I sat up slowly, shoving back the scratchy, woolen blanket that I had acquired somewhere before the decent fall nights turned into frigid winter ones. Quickly, I drew pants on over my long johns and a long sleeved shirt and vest over that. Sitting down on my bed, I yanked on knee-high socks and snagged my ankle boots with a sigh before tip-toeing out of the large bedroom. I put my shoes on in the hallway, the boys' dormitory being further down the opposite direction I was going, and Spot's solitary, tiny quarters at the same end as the boy's.**

**"Shit!" I muttered as I stubbed my toe on a stair. The lobby downstairs was chilly and dim, dead silent in comparison to normal mornings when it bustled with laughter, cigarette smoke, swearing, and other signs of habitation. I picked up a lone sock that lay crumpled on the wooden floor forlornly and left it sitting on the desk next to the sign-in ledger.**

**Pulling the big leather-bound book towards me, I frowned as I passed a finger down the list of names scribbled on the fine lines. I didn't see Bells' name and that made me pause for as I flipped back pages from nights past, she had never failed to sign in for whatever reason. Letting it alone for now, I made my way to the kitchen, lighting a gas lamp and turning the flame up high enough so that I could see. **

**Everything was where it had been hastily dropped and forgotten last night, and I busied myself with cleaning up and setting everything out so that I could see what I had and go from there. I hadn't ever really cooked a big meal like this in my life, the only reason I semi-knew what I was doing was thanks to my Grandma and aunts. They had taught me how to prepare food at a young age because of my mom's busy schedule.**

**I was busy contemplating the turkey silently when a throat cleared itself right next to my ear. Shrieking and jumping almost a foot in the air, I landed and whirled around to face Hide 'n' Seek, poking faces around Spot's back, tiny fists wrapped up in folds of his shirt.**

**"Jesus Christ Spot, you almost gave me a coronary! What's the matter with you?" Spot looked beat, his blue eyes were rimmed with sleep, and although his shirt was different, the pants that he wore were the same from last night. He had wet his ash-blonde hair and slicked it back, and I could see his gray cap sticking out of a back pocket. The key was as usual hanging around the black string around his neck. Spot's shirt was open at the neck, with the cuffs rolled up revealing a glimpse of his lean, pale chest.**

**Giving me a brief smile, he lit a cigarette and tried shaking the twins off of him, but they just shot me wide-eyed looks as they surveyed more food than they'd probably seen in their whole life put together. Spot perched on a stool to my right, stirring a pile of chocolate chunks that I had shaved off of a larger piece and set aside on a dingy cloth with a long finger.**

**"So have you decided what you're going to do?" My eyes shot to his quickly as I thought about what he had just asked. Uncertainly I turned away to hide my expression of confusion. Did he mean last night and our fooling around, or did he mean in general? My palms grew a tad sweaty at the idea of me screwing up and making an ass of myself in front of him. That was something that gave me pause, and I felt my cheeks flush for the second time that morning at the idea that what Spot thought of me mattered.**

**"Yeah, you know…Just a turkey and the trimmings. Mashed potatoes, some greens, sweets. Is that okay?" Spot looked at me without any expression on his thin face. I vowed to fatten him a tad, if he would let me. Tonight would be a hell of a start. I smiled blankly at him, hoping that I had answered right and I didn't look like TOO much of a flaming idiot.**

**"Sounds good," he murmured, his voice gruff. I was left with the feeling that I hadn't answered right, but that he wasn't going to bring it up if I didn't. That sort of shocked me, I took Spot to be a 'I don't give a rat's ass' kind of fella. Maybe I was wrong, or else he just wasn't in the mood today.**

**Hearing giggles, I swung around to see Hide and Seek looking back at me, faces shining with earnest innocence that was too sincere to be anything but feigned. I gaped in horrified shock at the mess they had managed to cause in the few seconds that Spot and I hadn't been paying attention. Half of the blueberries and cherries I had managed to acquire for pies were gone, the remnants smeared all over suddenly plump cheeks.**

**Stalking over, I held out my hand, and made a disgusted face, and a half-strangled yowl deep in my throat when the two boys spit up half-chewed fruit carcasses into my palm before smiling winningly at me, the seeds sticking between their teeth. Herding them out with stern words, and gentle nudges with his cane, Spot came back into the warm room and leaned against the table to watch as I tried to salvage the twins' mess**

**When I happened to glance up, I saw Spot trying to school his mouth into a flat line, but it curled up slightly at the edges no matter what he tried, like an unruly piece of ribbon. Frowning, I planted my hands onto my apron wrapped hips and tapped a foot. Holding his hands up in mock surrender, Spot hastily assured me that he found nothing funny.**

**"There's just one thing," he said, leaning so close to me that I could see a faint smattering of pale freckles across the bridge of his nose. Gulping, I fervently hoped that my hair looked alright, and that there wasn't anything stuck in my teeth as his eyes slowly ran over my face, pausing on my lips, then my eyes, then over to a spot just above my ear. **

**Solemnly, he swiped a finger down my cheek, and licked it, his blue eyes igniting with a merry twinkle, as I gaped open mouthed at him. Doing it once more, he held the finger up for my inspection, stained a swirl of dark blue and red. **

**"You missed some when you was cleanin' up," he smirked at me, his voice playful. His mouth was close to my own, if I leaned forward just a smidge, we would be kissing. I licked my lips unconsciously, and saw his eyes zero in on the gesture. **

**"Course, I could help you clean up if ya really wanted me to," Spot's voice was husky as he leaned his walking stick up against a stool, and his arms came around either side of me to rest on the table behind me. I felt my breath catch in my throat as he finally leaned in for the kill, his lips just barely grazing mine so that I could taste the cigarettes and peppermint on his breath when the kitchen door swung open with enough force to put a hole into the opposite wall, getting the knob stuck.**

**We leapt apart like guilty school children, Spot's jaw squaring with annoyance when he saw that it was just Bookworm, Duck, and Sprite. The three girls knew they had interrupted something important, for they all but tucked invisible tails between their legs and whined at the expression on Spot's face, and the rigid set to his shoulder's. **

**"We'll continue this later, when we don't got an audience" Spot whispered into my ear, patting my behind firmly as he collected his cane, slapped his cap onto his head and sauntered off, whistling a jaunty tune. The three girls gave me sheepish looks, as they filed into the kitchen one by one, adjusting clothing that had been thrown on hastily.**

**"Where's the fire?" I all but snapped at them, yanking my apron into place, and smoothing it across my hips. I felt a flash of irritation envelop me that disappeared instantly when I saw the knowing smirks on the other three girls' faces. Duck came up to me and slung an arm around my waist, walking me over to the small table that sat in the corner of the room by the stove.**

**"Spot finally got to ya didn't he?" I turned an interesting pinkish-rose color and felt like hiding my face in my hands when Bookworm pealed with laughter at the expression on my face. Sprite got into as well, shaking her head and pretending to examine me solemnly like a doctor would, clasping her thin hands behind her bony back.**

**"Yes my dear girls, I do believe or gentle Riot suffers from what is commonly known as InfatuatedwithSpotitis. It is fatal and can result in days, weeks, months, years of moping and pining away if not immediately taken care of." Pausing in her speech, she leaned over and handed me a piece of chocolate from my pile and patted me on the head.**

**"Take this and call me in the morning." Duck and Bookworm collapsed with giggles and I rolled my eyes but couldn't help smiling as Sprite leapt up and clicked her heels together. She was in a cheery mood this morning, a change from her normal morose self and I wondered if she and Skittery had had a nice evening the day before. **

**Indeed, she was now waltzing around the kitchen using a mop that had seen better days as her dance partner, her eyes half-closed dreamily, humming a song to herself. Duck and Bookworm shook their heads before crowding close around me.**

**"So? Tell us EVERYTHING," Bookworm all but shrieked in my ear, grabbing my forearm and shaking it excitedly. Duck was a little more reserved, tucking a brown lock of hair behind her ear that had escaped from her normal thick braid that she wore wrapped around her head like a crown, but her eyes twinkled merrily at me as I let out a huge sigh and felt my smile creep onto my face once more.**

**"Ok, Ok," I relented, waving my hands in the air to hush them as they gathered in around me. Stopping to light a cigarette and ensure that I had put the turkeys in to start baking, I sipped on a mug of lukewarm coffee and cleared my throat.**

**"It all started like this…." Throughout the story I chuckled inwardly at the shining eyes and dreamy expressions on the girls' faces at some of the situations I was in, especially when it came to telling about the kisses. I think I saw Bookworm even sigh at one point! It wasn't until Sprite began twitching her nose and sniffing that we jolted ourselves into reality.**

**"What's that smell?"**

**"The turkey!" I screeched, throwing Duck to one side and vaulting over the table and towards the oven built into a sectioned off part of the wall that was a dark colored brick. Wrenching the oven door open, I sighed with relief to see the turkey a tad on the crispy side, but not damaged otherwise. It wasn't black or charred anywhere, and it might be a little dry, but I would make sure I made plenty of gravy for everyone to smother their food in.**

**The girls were giggling at me and I stuck my tongue out at them. We set about finishing our tasks, talking and laughing the rest of the morning into early afternoon. I was teased unmercifully about Spot, but I was content knowing that they didn't know any of the important details. Every time Spot was mentioned, I was embarrassed to find a warm sensation flooding through my cheeks, down to the tips of my fingers and toes. It made me shiver and hug myself, smiles coming unbidden to my face. **

**Around lunchtime we had to chase gangs of boys out of the kitchen, and a sneak attack was set up by some of the younger miscreants who tried to get in through the back door to steal as much food as they could stuff into pockets or balance in grimy hands. Thankfully, it didn't work, and we only lost one apple pie, that Sprite chased after brandishing a rolling pin, a wild grin on her thin face. **

**Late afternoon rolled around, and we had finished our preparations. It was almost time to change into what finery we had upstairs, as the Manhattan kids would be arriving shortly. I waved a tired hand as the gang of girls left the kitchen. I felt like resting a second longer, before joining them upstairs.**

**It wasn't until the last girl had left that the back door began to open. I turned around to face a thoroughly embarrassed Bells, her hair in it's usual state of disarray, her cheeks pink with cold and it seemed a little of something else, for her eyes wouldn't meet mine and she all but ran past me to get out of the kitchen. **

**Frowning, I untied my apron and draped it carefully over the back of a chair. Pushing my braid behind one shoulder, I crossed my arms over my chest and shook my head. Something was up in Brooklyn, and it sure wasn't just my pulse every time Spot's name was mentioned or he entered a room that was for damn sure.**

**With a determined look on my grim face, I made my way upstairs to change, a sinking feeling settling like a ball of lead in the pit of my stomach. I had a bad feeling that whatever escapade that had brought me to the past was not going to be thwarted merely by my presence here. It was going to be something I would have to halt with my own two hands. **

**Rubbing them together briskly, I shot up a fleeting prayer to the Big Kahuna above, and went to get ready. It was bound to be an eventful evening that was for sure. I just knew it.**


	15. Chapter 15 Disclaimer Number Two

**ATTENTION:**

**DISCLAIMER NUMER TWO:**

**It was just brought to my attention in an email that someone published a story 12-2-2004 that is VERY similar to my story 'Going Home' in story content. None of the characters have the same names, but the story itself this person has put together is very much like mine, almost down to exact sentences.**

**While I'm not sure what I can do and I know that this happens a lot to other people, I do not believe that copying is the greatest form of flattery, in fact, it offends me greatly that someone can't come up with something on their own. My story was published in May of 2004, so that was before this other person's. **

**The story content and characters that do not belong to Disney's 'Newsies' are my own creations, and although there are going to be similar stories written out there always, I think that it's not necessary to copy exact phrases and ideas. Thank you.**

**Caitlin 'Riot'**


	16. Chapter 16

_**Author's note – I'm SO sorry that it's taken me as long as this to update my story. I've been so busy and too many things have been going on, resulting in me losing time or interest in continuing it. But now I've gotten back into the swing of the story, and its characters, so DON'T YOU WORRY, RIOT'S BACK!!! **_

**I'm not sure at what point I realized that my Thanksgiving dinner wasn't going to go as I planned, but it started out innocently enough. Manhattan arrived as expected, bringing friendly faces, ones we hadn't seen in a week what with the massive amounts of early snow. Emotions all but attacked Racetrack when he sauntered through the door, and Sprite and Skittery held off on fighting for a record setting sixty-three minutes.**

**Sitting at the tables we erected, some of them just old doors laid out on barrels, I was pleased at the awed voices discussing all the food we had managed to find and cook in time, and the way they respectfully said 'Grace' before eating. I sat next to, of course, Spot. **

**I don't think I could have gotten away from him if I'd tried. For some reason, the boy seemed to be glued to my side, and I was having a hard time telling if he was being overprotective in a boyfriend way, or in a 'I'm your leader and must look out for you' way, or just an 'I'm your friend' way. Irregardless, I didn't know and that bothered me for I usually could read people quite well. **

**Plates were loaded up with food and passed down to where the youngest kids sat, and then Jack and Spot started handing out plates to the older ones. We just barely had enough to go around, not counting the desserts which some of the younger guys wanted INSTEAD of dinner. They were told to can it and wait which I thought was rather cute, as I covered my mouth with my hand so Hide and Seek wouldn't see me laughing at them as they bombarded Spot with arguments.**

**He let them plead their cases, his blue eyes serious, before pointing back towards their seats, his mouth set carefully into a straight line. The two little boys, heads down and shoulders drooping walked back to their chairs, Seek pausing once to glance back at Spot. Spot winked, and Seek straightened up, his face lighting with relief.**

"**Those two adore you," I said to him as he finally snagged a plate for himself and sat down next to me. Shrugging, his mouth full of turkey, he took a swallow of ale, and cleared his throat.**

"**Yeah, well, I'm the only family they've ever known. I mean, to put it bluntly they're the kids of the previous leader, Rafe MacLeod. His girl told him she was knocked and he didn't want anything to do with it. But he kind of had to deal with it when she died giving birth and they showed up on his doorstep with the midwife." Spot paused, his eyes clouding over as he sunk into memories. Shaking his head he gave me a faint smile and chucked my chin with the edge of a fist, gently.**

"**That was fun, lemme tell you, taking care of some newborn brats. We had just started taking in girls, and we gave 'em to them because it seemed like the right thing to do. They found them a wet nurse in Duck's older sister, and Duck primarily took over their care until they were old enough to just run under foot. Duck's older sister was going to take them, but we all had gotten used to them by then, and they wouldn't go. Bit Duck's sister's husband's hands all up like angry puppies the day he tried to cart them off." **

**Chuckling like a proud father, he shook his head and wiped his mouth off onto his sleeve. I made sure to hide my grimace. I had learned by then not to be open with my distaste towards unseemliness. I wasn't exactly living in the Antiseptic Era yet. I ate until I was full, which to be honest didn't take that long. It wasn't that the food wasn't good, or that I wasn't starving. On the contrary, this was the first meal I had eaten in a day or so. I just kept thinking that I only had one month left. **

**One month and some odd days didn't seem like enough time to do what I had to do. Although, I was beginning to wonder just what it was I was supposed to do anymore. I mean, Cinder was gone, happy with Spook, so why would Spook try to come after Spot now, when he had his girl back with him? Part of me wondered how Cinder was doing, and I resolved to go to Harlem and find out. Maybe take Silver, and someone else who was familiar with the territory and tough. **

**I pursed my lips as I thought of Grim, because he would have been my first choice of someone to come along. Obviously Spot couldn't go, and a boy would mean added protection. But Grim had been avoiding me lately it seemed. I hadn't seen hide or tail of him since the night I went with Spot to the pub. I knew either boy wasn't used to rejection, but I didn't want to hurt Grim. He was too nice, too patient, too everything I should be inclined towards wanting instead of this emotional train wreck sitting next to me. **

**As if on cue, the train wreck bent his head towards my ear and I shivered a little at the feel of his warm breath tickling stray hairs. I knew that he had to know by now that had an effect on me and wondered if that was why he did it. **

"**Thank you for this, Riot. I don't know what I would have done without you. Normally we don't have Thanksgiving except for a few pies that everyone fights over." I must have given him a confused look and started to stammer something out about Cinder helping him and he swirled the dregs of beer around in the dark brown bottle he held before draining them.**

"**Cinder, cook? She didn't get that nickname for nothin' ya know." Embarrassed, I started to stammer even more which he must have thought was cute because his smile seemed to lose its mocking edge and softened a little as he moved a little closer.**

**I'm not sure to this day if he intended to kiss me in front of both factions of Newsies, thereby ensuring that everyone would know his final feelings on the matter, settling it not only in their minds, but also in my own poor muddled head. But as he did so, I heard the tone in conversation change to an excited buzz and it was just as he took in a breath that a huge wad of mashed potatoes and gravy flew past our heads and landed against the nearby wall with a smattering thud.**

**Shocked, I jumped up with a little screech, and Spot leapt up, his hands clenched into fists, demanding to know who threw that. Unfortunately it would have been easier to have asked who DIDN'T throw it because at that moment everyone lost interest in eating, and started throwing around the food that I had so carefully prepared. **

**Now, I'm not a wimpy girl, and I have a very tough side to me. But underneath that stale, crusty edge is the gooey softness that makes me want to inhale babies and cuddle puppies while balancing kittens on my shoulders like parrots, all at the same time. I AM a girl, and although it gets forgotten sometimes, I have every single emotion in the book and right now, I was feeling over-sensitive, tired, yanked around, and down right damn well disappointed that I didn't get my kiss. **

**Grabbing a bottle of whisky off the table, I slid it into a pocket of my skirt and ducking a plate of peas as it whirled through the air, I ran out of the room, the laughter of the kids and the shouting of people trying to calm everyone down echoing in my ears. I thought I heard Spot call my name, but I could have been mistaken so I just kept running. **

**I grabbed an old coat that I had acquired when I traded a few coins to a starving man in the fall when I knew I would need something stout and warm. It was an old soldier's coat, with brass buttons, and gold braid on the shoulder's and cuffs. I thought it was perhaps a family heirloom from the Civil War, and almost laughed maniacally when I realized that the Civil War had only happened some twenty or thirty years ago. **

**The coat was way too big for me; I nearly disappeared into its dusty folds. But I had had it long enough now that it had taken my scent to it instead of the stranger's and I had found an old bullet shell that I had made Action put onto a chain for me and I wore it daily, in one of the pockets. Out the front door I went, skidding on a patch of black ice that had formed right outside our door on the cobblestones. I had to practically leap over a drunken guy sleeping it off down the sidewalk, while I frantically wheeled my arms around for balance.**

**Finally straightening up, I made my way as fast as I could down the street, ducking into a dark alley that halfway went from cobblestones to wood. This was the beginning of the dock area, and as I clattered down the staircase that took you lower, towards the waterfront, I could see all the warehouses stretched out on the river's edge where boats docked and unloaded their cargo. Our pier was right after the last stair, to the left, as close to a getaway point as possible. Apparently Rafe hadn't played around when it came to keeping all his options and his Newsies safe. **

**I wasn't sure why I came down here, weather wise it was colder here than back towards the city. Maybe it was because I knew it would be deserted, although not such a wise idea for me if anything were to happen and I was to run into anyone undesirable. Throwing caution to the winds, I plopped down onto a crate and opened the bottle with a vicious twist. The sharp smell of bourbon almost knocked me over, but I steeled my stomach and took a swig.**

**Warm fire ran down my throat and pooled in my stomach although the aftertaste left tears in my eyes and flames coming out of my mouth. If this didn't make me sick nothing would. Sniffing and wiping my nose on the back of my hand, I dejectedly hung my head and felt sorry for myself. I'd done a whole lot of nothing this entire time, except develop a crush on a miniature gangster who didn't give a damn about me enough to keep me here when it came down to it. And did anyone else?**

**I morbidly thought about where I would end up when this was all said and done, or if I was doomed to switch places with Spot's Ghost and walk eternity like him since no one cared which time I lived in either way? That thought made me sad, so I took another swallow of whisky, and another, and soon I wasn't feeling sad at all, but mildly giddy and pleasantly warm. I hummed an Irish drinking song I had learned from my Dad before he left and almost wouldn't have noticed Spot coming down the pier if I hadn't opened my eyes and squinted into the darkness.**

**I could make out Spot striding along at a brisk pace, swinging his cane as if he were…shit. As if he was angry, of course. I rolled my eyes and waited for the blow out. At least I had liquid fortification and hoped that would be enough to placate him. When he finally strode into my area, I gave him a bright grin to which he stared at me, his face a mask.**

"**What's cooking'?" When he didn't reply, I pursed my lips and getting up, walked over to where he stood, silently looking at me, his eyes veiled, thoughts hidden behind his poker face. Attempting to mimic him, I crossed my arms, and put a mean look on my face that must have looked like the funniest thing ever, especially because my facial muscles would NOT do what I wanted them too, but seemed to want to droop into a lazy grin. **

**For a split second, I thought that wouldn't do it, but after a quick, heart stopping moment, Spot shook his head and when he raised it once more, there was a fond smile gracing his lean face. Motioning me forward, he waited until I was a foot away before finally talking to me.**

"**Riot, I'm sorry about tonight…"**

"**Oh, shit…Don't be sorry, it's okay…."**

"**IT'S NOT OKAY!" I took a step back, surprised at the vehemence in his gruff voice. Looking around quickly to make sure we were really alone, he put a hand out and when I stared at it stupidly, he wiggled his fingers until I got the hint and laid my own hand onto his. Pulling me close once again, he spoke, much softer this time.**

**"What they did tonight was inexcusable. Not only to you, but also to the other girls who cleaned, or helped you out in the kitchen, and the girls who set up places for our guests to sleep. It just ain't fair." He spat out, his teeth clenched. I shrugged, suddenly feeling tired beyond my years.**

**"Life isn't fair, Spot. No matter what you do, or how hard you try, nothing anyone ever does will be good enough, or fair." Spot's mouth quirked up before I saw a sadness fill his eyes.**

**"Ain't that my line? Since when did you become so down?" When I shrugged, he sighed and tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear. Rubbing my hand with his fingers, we stood that way for a moment, absently enjoying ourselves. **

"**You shouldn't be that hard on yourself. You're the one that props everyone up and makes each day okay enough to keep on going. At least, that's what you do for me." I swallowed hard, surprised at Spot's candor. Removing his hands from mine, he took a hold of either one of the huge lapels on the front of my jacket, shaking them a little and drawing them tighter across my chest.**

"**Where the hell did you get this old coat?" **

"**I dunno, hah. I think I found it in an alley or something, and brought it home and washed it. You like it?" I struck a pose and Spot laughed, shaking his head slightly at me. Taking a firmer grip on my coat, he drew me in very close to him, and I found myself sliding my arms around his waist and holding on tight as he bent his head down towards mine.**

**We met partway, and I felt a happy tremor go through my knees as we kissed in the darkness by the river. Being with him just felt so RIGHT to me, that I forgot about everything else except him, not wanting to stop even to take a breath. When we finally did part, his voice was shaky.**

"**Damn, Riot, I can't believe this happened so soon, but it did."**

"**What happened, Spot?" **

"**I told myself that I wouldn't let another girl get to me the way Cinder did, but here you are, and I'm apologizing to you about something my boys did that in the past I would NEVER have apologized to anyone for, because I can't stand to think of you being sad. It took me until walking down here to come get you for it to hit me, but you make me feel….feel…I don't want you to leave Brooklyn, I want you here all the time. Fuck Silver's lodging house, you don't need it."**

**I scarcely breathed, knowing that he was trying to say something important to me, but I couldn't help it, I was a nervous wreck. I could feel sweat trickling down my spine and in between my breasts, making my blouse stick to me and turn cold. **

**I stood, with my mouth clamped shut as Spot clumsily tried to tell me how he felt about me. I hadn't realized that I had averted my eyes to spare him some embarrassment until I felt his fingers gently grasp my chin and force me to meet his gaze. **

"**A little help here? I'm starting to feel like an idiot. Point is, I'd like us to send more time together, exclusively. Y'know…"**

"**Be official?" I saw his shoulders un-tense, and he smiled.**

"**Yeah, official. You'n'me, which means no more alone time with Grim." I raised an eyebrow at him slowly.**

"**Grim's my friend, I'm not going to stop seeing him every once in a while, but if you REALLY want to try THIS," here I paused and jabbed a finger in the air back and forth between us, "then I'll make sure he understands that I'm with someone."**

**Spot didn't look entirely pleased, but I didn't care. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would rip out of my chest. It never occurred to me at the time that significant events were unfolding, and if I had realized it, I think I would have been a little more cautious. **

**As it was, I was just foolishly thrilled to be Spot's new girl. We awkwardly grinned idiotically at each other before he took me into a tight embrace and kissed my forehead, cheek, under my ear, and then directly on the lips.**

"**Oh God! I'm so glad I found you!" at the raspy, fragile cry, we froze and Spot's hold on me tightened so much I could have counted his heartbeats through our thick, woolen winter clothing. I felt my happiness turn bitter and I couldn't swallow past a thick lump that formed in my throat when I looked up and saw hostility and veiled wonder in Spot's eyes as he licked his dry lips and said the name I was praying he wouldn't.**

"**Cinder," his voice was sharp and cold and I thought he was going to break my ribs, he was crushing me so hard to his body. Wriggling free, I turned around, wrapping my arms about my stomach, hugging myself. **

**Cinder stood on the pier swaying slightly. She didn't look good; her pale face was marred with scratches and bruises, all of them fresh. Dried blood covered her face.**

"**What happened" It wasn't a question, more like a demand. Spot left my side and strode to where Cinder was. Tilting her head gently, this way and that, she brokenly began to cry and spit out some half-assed story about Spook. I saw Spot's fists tighten and then Cinder was falling over, towards Spot and he caught her.**

**I froze; feeling unease start to fill my belly as Spot hefted Cinder into his arms like one would carry a baby. As he passed me, he shot me an apologetic look.**

"**C'mon doll, we'll freeze out here. You and I will finish this later after I get her settled." I nodded mutely, and fell instep behind him listening to his and Cinder's muted voices as they spoke quietly.**

**I irritably kicked a chunk of snow and sent it flying. When I looked up, Cinder was staring at me from over Spot's shoulder and the look was anything but friendly. That included the slow, evil, smile that spread across her ghastly face. I couldn't tear my gaze away as Cinder's arm curled around Spot's neck, as if to hold on, but I spied her fingers playing with his hair. He kept shrugging, like an animal trying to rid itself of a pesky insect.**

**Once or twice he waited until I was by his side again, but I always dropped back, being so near Cinder made me ill at ease I couldn't put my finger on it, but something was definitely wrong. As I dropped back for a third time, Cinder caught my eye again. **

**She winked, and mouthed silently, "He's mine," before snuggling down into his arms and making little whimpering noises. Ice water hit my veins and I almost knocked Spot over to get him away from her, but I knew he would only be angry with me, not thankful.**

**Steeling my gaze in case she was watching, I began to work up a battle plan in my head, laying out all options. I wasn't going to let the little hussy win, that's for sure, and definitely not THAT easily either!**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N -- Again I'm SOOOOOOOOOO sorry for the delay! No excuses, there are too many of 'em so I'll just say life got in the way. But I already have the next chapter underway so fear not! Thank you though to the readers who most recently sent me the nudges I needed to start again. I owe you people. Thank you. Enoy all!!**

**No matter what I tried, I couldn't get my hands warm as I hurried to keep up with Spot and Cinder. Cursing the both of them under my breath, I tucked my fingers as far into my armpits as I could possibly get them. The recent snowfall made walking treacherous, and we slid with every other step we took. I concentrated on trying to keep warm and putting one foot in front of the other, my gaze angled down, chin and nose tucked into the upturned collar of my old coat.**

**I managed to get quite warm just thinking about Cinder in Spot's arms, although I forced myself to not look, no matter what. I shook my head in disgust as I heard the sob story Cinder was feeding Spot. Even though I was a few steps behind them, their voices carried on the gusts of wind that attacked us, sending shimmering bursts of snow into our faces, hair and mouths. **

**A man hurried on by us, casting nothing more than a curious glance at Spot and Cinder, and for some reason, a lingering one at me. It made me feel like I was wearing nothing but a bikini, even though I was bundled up to the nines. It was enough to get me to hasten my steps until I was almost touching Spot's back. Finally, we made our way to the lodging house. I opened the door for Spot, even though I wanted to slam it in his face. Once inside, I quickly whipped my coat and scarf off, hoping that Manhattan was gone. I thought I felt a hand on my arm and a voice mumble my name, but I was gone in a second, storming off to the kitchen.**

**Once inside the lobby, I noticed that Manhattan was gone. They had probably left fearing the volatile moods of Brooklyn's chief. It was a good idea, because I would hazard a guess that he wasn't in an entirely great one right about now. The 'dining room' area had been cleaned up, leftovers probably left outside somewhere safe so they wouldn't spoil. When I shoved the kitchen door open, Duck, Bookworm, Sprite, and Emotions all looked up from mugs of tea they were sipping, their faces tired, and a stack of freshly washed dishes sitting on the sideboard of the wash basin. **

**"You're okay," Bookworm said, a relieved note to her voice. The rest of the girls smiled at me, and I shrugged and smiled back. I felt like an asshole taking off like that into a freezing winter's night. What a way to make an impression, you jerk, I said to myself. Emotions kicked out a chair and Sprite got me some tea, while I set about rubbing feeling into my hands and cheeks. Wrapping my hands around the mug, I groaned in pleasure at the warmth.**

**"Oh this is great, when Spot's done with Cinder, he should…"**

**"WHAT?!!!"**

**Four pairs of eyes shot to my face, mouths agape in shock. Emotions leapt up, rocking the table with such violence that hot tea slopped over the rims of all the mugs. Sprite cried out and grabbed a towel, and Duck yelped in pain as some of the hot liquid landed on her hands. Emotions shot a hasty apology over her shoulder before she was out the kitchen door, leaving it swinging behind her. Bookworm and Duck jumped to their feet, Duck ignoring her hands as they followed. I was too in shock, sitting still at the table watching Sprite, who once she was done sopping up the spill, joined the others in making a hasty departure. It wasn't long before I heard loud voices coming from the other room, and I too, followed the other girls.**

**When I walked into the lobby, I saw boys pouring down the stairs and Cinder standing in the middle of a circle of girls, crouched in a fighting stance, her fists raised to protect her face. I was taken aback that she would know how to box, but it didn't really shock me at all that all of these girls knew how to fight. It was part of their daily life and routines. One of Cinder's eyes was a dark mass of bruises, but not swollen shut, and the brighter blue of her eye made a startling contrast. Emotions stood nose to nose with her, the cords in her neck standing out as her skin turned a fiery, mottled shade of red as she shouted.**

**They were all talking to fast and furious for me to make anything out, but all I could hear was words being thrown around, like 'traitor', 'spy', 'whore', 'bitch', and as for the rest, I'm sure you get the idea, because it sure didn't get any more friendly after that. With a movement faster than a striking rattlesnake, Emotions suddenly had Cinder's red hair wrapped around her tattooed wrist, yanking it towards the ground, and bringing her knee upwards in the same moment. The resulting crunch of flesh hitting flesh made me feel sick to my stomach and I saw Bookworm and Duck swallow hard and flinch. Cinder staggered backwards, and the circle broke, letting her stumble and then fall onto one knee.**

**Looking up at the other girls through a curtain of her hair, I saw the malevolence in her one un-hurt eye as blood trickled down her face from one of her nostrils. It was then that Spot put Emotions into a headlock and practically threw her across the room where she was caught by Maple. Turning her head, something unspoken passed between the leader and Emotions for she instantly backed down, grinding her teeth and looking furious. Wrenching away from Maple, she stomped off up the stairs almost tossing the littler kids out of the way.**

**"Since she's obviously not safe, none of you need to worry 'cuz I'm having her bunk on the floor with me tonight." Spot spat out at the suddenly blank faces of his female newsies. Rage welled up in me so quick I was shocked into silence. I wasn't even sure if I would have said anything at the moment or not, but I was definitely heartbroken, angry, and disbelieving all at once. I noticed more than a few people looking at me curiously, and my cheeks burned with shame. Blinking back tears, I shot up the stairs, elbowing Action and Flask out of the way, not looking back when someone called my name, not even caring if it was Spot himself. **

**Throwing myself on my cot, I ignored the lump that was Emotions on her cot nearby. She was lying with her feet propped on the wall, kicking and stomping with all her might. Whatever got her feeling better was fine with me, as for myself, my body told me just how exhausted and emotionally charged I was by starting to cry, deep hollow sobs that made me double over, my nose running. My cot creaked with the violence of my jagged sobs, and I tried to muffle them by biting on my pillow. A hand on my hot forehead, and an arm wrapped around my waist, plus Emotions voice in my ear telling me to 'cry as hard as you can kid, till you can't cry no more', made me abandon that notion and I did as she said until my face was sticky with tears and I didn't think I had an ounce of water left in my body. **

**"That rotten bitch, thinks she can leave us and then come back when her and Spook get into a fight? She's crazy I tell ya, fuckin' loony. I can't believe Spot taking her back just like that, like nothing happened." I sat up, listening to Emotions tirade, wiping my face off with a corner of my scratchy blanket.**

**"Do you really think he's taking her back? I mean, like you know…that?" An embarrassed look crossed Emotions face, and she smoothed some hair away from my eyes, looking away as she spoke.**

**"Oh Hun, I don't know. He could be, that's somethin' ya gotta think about, ya know?" I nodded, suddenly somber. We both sat quietly, wrapped in our thoughts until the other girls filed into the room and one by one joined us on my cot, until we were all squeezed together, unnerved by what we had witnessed. When I glanced behind me, I saw Sprite with her head on Duck's shoulder, and Duck stroking the smaller girl's hair like a mother quieting a child. Bookworm was scrunched up into a ball, her arms wrapped around her knees, head resting on top of them, face empty. Even Maple was there, her normally tough demeanor uncertain and shaken.**

**"Well, we gotta go to bed," I said finally, standing up and stripping my pants off to exchange them for the nightgown hanging on my hook. The other girls looked at me, but I ignored them, and busied myself for sleep. Emotions understood, and she rose, stretching her arms high in the air and yawning.**

**"Yeah, tomorrow's another day, guys." One by one, they all went to bed until the room was finally dark and still. I lay awake, my eyes closed as tightly as I could possibly get them, willing myself to not think about what was going on in Spot's bedroom. If he cared at all, it had to be innocent. An attempt to restore sanity to the lodging house that was all. Turning on my side, I burrowed into my pillow and swallowed hard. Yeah…that was it.**

**The next day I didn't sell any newspapers. As a matter of fact, I didn't get out of bed at all. None of the girls bothered me as they filed out early in the morning, but someone came to the door and opened it, standing there for at least two or three minutes watching me without saying anything before closing the door again. I listened to their footsteps fading down the hallway before I fell asleep again.**

**When I woke up once more it was late morning, and I stretched my arms and yawned. As much as I hated being melodramatic, I almost stayed in bed for the rest of the day, but pride won out and I got up and got dressed. Wandering downstairs, hunger pains gnawing at my belly, I ate some bread and drank some lukewarm tea before dilly-dallying around the lodging house. I swept the lobby, and did some laundry and made beds. The younger kids were already home, and I played some marbles with them, getting some much needed laughter and I almost felt human again when Spot showed up, his face stern and unreadable.**

**"Come with me" Hide and Seek ducked their heads, but their eyes were full of mischief as they poked my side and made mock angry faces behind Spot's back as I stood up and dusted off my rear. I hid my smile behind a hand and followed Spot up the stairs and into his bedroom. I saw no evidence that Cinder slept in his bed, there was his usual one pillow and one blanket on the twin mattress. But neither did I see any blankets thrown on the floor. Everything was as neat and tidy as the unusually fastidiously neat young man was. **

**"We need to talk," he began, motioning me to sit on his bed. I did, and crossed my arms over my chest, carefully making sure none of my emotions were on my face. It was hard, because I couldn't hide the way I feel normally if my life depended on it. Spot stood, his back to me, as he looked out his window. Lighting a cigarette, he finally turned around, and sat next to me on the bed.**

**"I know you don't understand why I let Cinder come back. Honestly, I can't even begin to tell you why I did it either." I looked at him, and saw confusion flit across his face before he carefully stilled it once more, inhaling and exhaling, the tip of his cigarette glowing red then fading almost rhythmically. **

**"I guess…I just want you to know that anything I said to you, I meant. I don't want you to think I'm a liar, but I can't shake the hold that she has over me." I felt my stomach sink, and my heart beat faster as I began to give in to disappointment.**

**"S-Still?" I cleared my throat and repeated myself more forcefully.**

**"Yeah," he said looking me directly in the eyes this time. My face fell and I looked away, my mouth dry. I felt his fingers entwine with mine, and I glanced back at him. He had an earnest look on his face as he scooted a little closer.**

**"You're a girl, don't you understand?"**

**"Yeah, sure. It's okay, honest." His fingers tightened and he jerked my arm impatiently. Angry, I lifted my chin up and pursed my lips.**

**"You're not listening to me. I can't explain it, but it doesn't mean that…Ahh shit Riot, I don't know what to do." I stood up and ripped my hand out of his. I was filled with an almost panicked need to get away from him. Waving him away, as he stood up and tried to grab me, I made my way to the door as my eyes filled with tears. **

**"God Riot, please don't cry, I didn't want to make you cry. This isn't how I wanted this to go, I'm not saying I want to be with her, just that…"**

**"Just that you don't know if you still have feelings for her…Even though she left and I'm right here, and I've been right here, you don't know. I GET IT SPOT! Just let me go!" Mortified at the tears, I blindly pushed past him and ran out the door. As I made my way down the hallway, Cinder walked by me, towards Spot's bedroom, a smirk on her injured face. I ignored her, even though I wanted to jump on her and batter her as much as Emotions, but I refrained. Without realizing it, I found myself heading down the rickety staircase to where I first made my appearance in this messed up place, the basement.**

**Striding to the mirror, I ran my hands over its edges, trying to find a button, pushing and finally punching with all my might to no avail. The only opening I could see was the key hole and I knew exactly where the key was, around Spot's neck. Flopping down on a crate, I began to cry, holding my face in my hands. Rocking back and forth, I prayed with all my might that the mirror would flare up and suddenly send me back to the modern days again. A flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye made me stop and when I lifted my head, I saw Bells standing on the staircase.**

**"What are you doing?"**

**"Uh, nothing…Just wishing I was back in Vermont that's all," I stumbled over my lie, trying to remember where it was I had said I was from. Bells watched me intently before giving me a sympathetic look.**

**"Don't let her get to you; Spot's always had a hard time expressing himself. You just have to give it time and stick by him and you'll be surprised." Bells' words made me feel better, even though I was shocked to be getting kind words from her. I knew she was upset with me for SOMETHING, but she wasn't revealing what it was, or giving me even the slightest HINT. I just knew that she wasn't spending a lot of her time at the lodging house, and when she did she watched me, almost like she wanted to tell me something but she was holding back. **

**"Now come upstairs, we're having a poker game and I know you'd rather do that and get your mind on something else then sit down here in the dust and dark with the rats." THAT did it, I leapt up screeching as Bells laughed, her face open and happy, sweeping her hair out of her eyes. Together we ran up the stairs and out of the basement, although my mind stayed down there wrapped around the mirror and its secrets. Would I ever get home? Or was this where I was bound to stay, unhappy and unsuccessful at my mission? How could I get things going my way again? One thing was for sure, if I failed, I was going to be VERY stuck, VERY miserable, and VERY alone.**


	18. Chapter 18

_**A/N – I know I keep apologizing for not updating FOREVER and a day, but I'm gonna do it one more time. I'M SOOOOO SORRY!! I thank all of my loyal readers, who reviewed and all the new ones who did the same. You guys don't know how much it means to me, and how eager it makes me to respond when I get encouragement. For awhile I was unsure about the ending, and that didn't help my progress, but I've mapped it all out, barring any sudden changes (I like to make things interesting) so I'll be here more. **_

_**Once again THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! Please keep reading!!**_

_**-Riot**_

__No matter how much I tried, I couldn't pay attention to the poker game that I was playing. I was glad to be with all the girls, but it seemed like we were all forcing ourselves to have an extra good time, when all we really wanted to do was probably kill someone. If I had been back in my own time, I would have gone to my dad's house and used his punching bag, then to my friend's house to eat chocolate ice cream and watch a girl flick that would make me cry. I really was just a bunch of nerves most of the time, so if any extra frustrations were added to that, it made me a time bomb.

I couldn't quite grasp what had happened in the past twenty-four hours, it was just a whirlwind of thoughts in my head. There was no way I could even begin to formulate an attack plan, because every time I grasped what seemed like a significant train of thought, another one would come barreling through and bust it up. It left me feeling very confused and unsure as to what I was going to do. I also didn't know where I stood with Spot now, especially since no one had seen him or Cinder for a little while now. Trying to push bad thoughts out of my head, I went over to a window and throwing up the sash, lit a cigarette and leaned out of it.

The kids were still straggling back from the afternoon selling, and I could make out a few in the distance, coming down the sidewalk. The air was cold, and it choked me slightly as I breathed it in, my nose going numb. I watched the kids coming home, really observing them almost it seemed for the first time. The smaller children came first, their usually pudgy faces thinner than a normal child's their age. Most wore second hand clothing that barely fit them, for the most part running too big than small. Each boy had a pair of short pants on that were supposed to fall to the knee, as knickers were made to do.

But since they were donated, the pants almost all fell to the shin or if too short, just below the knee, their legs covered in holey, woolen socks. And although their faces were purple from the cold, lips blue, and ears blood red. We all took our part in clothing them. There was only so much we could do, before it was up to them to learn how to duck into shops during the day to keep them warm.

The girls came next, a gaggle of them, talking animatedly about this and that. All of them looked like they were at least five years older than they really were. Their eyes were warier than the boys, and darted back and forth, always on the lookout for trouble. This crop of girls dressed in all boys clothing unless they were dressing up for some occasion. There had been a few who had wanted to still wear dresses, hoping that it would garner them more sympathy or favor with the customers. For awhile it had, until the night one of the girls got accosted and when she turned to run, her long skirts hindered her, and she was caught and summarily beaten as well as other nasty things. After that, no one wore skirts when they sold.

The older boys headed up the pack, weapons in pockets, swinging by sides, or hidden away in inner coat pockets. Most wore sleeveless gloves so they could light cigarettes or stogies without any trouble. They were all undernourished, and on the scrawny side, but their faces and eyes were as cold as the weather. To mess with them, invited pain and they took care to make sure that the projected this image at any cost. And last but not least, came Spot and to my surprise, Cinder. I felt rage get caught in my throat, bitter to swallow like hot acid.

They walked side by side, not touching, but you could see that their manner was a little less formal and rigid. They must have spent the day selling while I lay abed, upset and letting her worm her way back into his good favor. As I watched, a fat snowflake fell onto Cinder's cheek and Spot brushed it away with a gloved hand. I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes, and blinking furiously before they could freeze there, I ducked back into the lodging room and slammed the sill down.

Flinging myself onto my bed, I began to think. Closing my eyes, I let my thoughts dart about like fireflies in the dark on a summer night. I tried to catch one, to elaborate on it, to set up a plan, but I could no more do that then when I was a child, trying to trap the bugs and put them into a jar to light up my room at night. All of a sudden my tired mind managed to snag a thought that lazily floated by, large and ever-present. Maybe I could get Spot and Cinder back together. I felt my chest catch with a slight pain, and I took a deep breath.

Maybe if I got them back together, Cinder wouldn't leave Spot to get shot in some back alley brawl, and they would be together instead of her with Spook, which would solve both the bad marriage and Spot's early demise. It would severely limit my goodwill towards either one of them, to willingly give up when I had felt such a strong connection between myself and the Brooklyn hoodlum. But, for the greater good, I suppose my happiness didn't matter. And in the end, if I wasn't happy here in historical New York, then the mirror would have to send me back to my own time.

Sitting up, I hastily braided my hair and clapped my hands together with a smug air. This just might work, and there was still time to spare. Grabbing a vest, I slipped it over my shoulders, and tucking my packet of smokes into the side pocket, I hastened down the stairs, where I could hear everyone coming into the building, knocking snow off their boots and hanging up coats and hats.

The small children swirled around me, shouting greetings, and making a beeline for the fireplace in the lobby, where they lined up, backsides facing the flames, heaving a sigh of relief that seemed unanimous. I greeted the older kids by name, leaning up against the wall near the desk where the ledger was kept. Each kid signed in; since afternoon had fallen and if you were spending the night you had to keep record of it.

My only plan of action right now was to watch the two of them together, and see if I could manipulate any situations that would normally be ordinary into romantic settings. It wouldn't be easy, Spot didn't trust Cinder anymore, and it was hard to tell if Cinder was using Spot and the rest of Brooklyn as a place to crash until her and Spook's fight ran its course, or if she was sincerely missing it here, and wanted to stay.

I would have put down a weeks worth of wages on the former rather than the latter, but I had to get over my cynical nature and try my best to make this work. I could see no other option, although briefly a thought pushed into the forefront of my mind, that even if I did think of something else, I probably wouldn't want to do it now, seeing as how I was angry with Spot and his weakness for this red-headed girl. As everyone piled into the lodging house, and the noise level rose from slightly loud to a dull roar, everyone greeting each other and putting away coats, boots, hats, and forming a line to sign into the ledger, I waited, watching.

Spot and Cinder came in last, stopping so that they could take off their coats. As they did so, she said something to him that must have struck him as funny, for I saw his mouth relax into a smile, which lit up his tired face, erasing some of the lines and dark circles under his eyes. I felt a sharp pain cramp up my side, and I rubbed it absentmindedly as the two came into the room. Spot stopped cold when he saw me, leaning against the wall, and I half-fumbled with a cigarette as I pulled it out of my front pocket and lit it.

Taking a deep breath, I slowed my pounding heart down by taking long drags, and exhaling smoke slowly. I saw Spot say something to Cinder, before making his way through the crowded room to where I stood, his eyes on me the whole time, yet shuttered as if he was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses. Leaning against the wall next to me, he cautiously looked at me out of the corner of his eyes.

"Feelin' any better?"

"Why yes, much better actually."

"Really?" his eyes raked me up and down, full of disbelief, taking in my ragged appearance, my hastily done braid, with long wisps escaping it's bindings, and my clothes hanging on my thin frame. I gnawed on a hangnail, and nodded up and down with an exaggerated air, trying to make myself brim with confidence as I flapped a hand in dismissal.

"Oh you needn't worry about me at all…So how's Cinder? Did you guys have a good day selling?" If I had been in the mood, I would have been amused by his sharp knee-jerk reaction to my question, like I didn't just see the two of them enter the room together. Stammering slightly, he finally shrugged and nodded yes. I felt a painful jab in my side that took my breath away, and I didn't like it one bit. It was hard to pretend you didn't care, when in reality you cared too much.

"Oh well….Keep up the good work then, I'm sure you two lovebirds will be right as rain in no time!" I forced myself to ooze cheerfulness, which understandably can be quite scary when seen at full wattage. I saw confusion enter his eyes, and uncertainty as he finally looked at me full on, his eyes boring into mine with such painful intensity that I had to look away eventually so he wouldn't see how I was lying through my teeth.

"I wouldn't call us lovebirds, Riot…but yeah we had a nice day. I learned some stuff that I'm not sure about but after I get over it, I'll be able to safely say that Cinder is a friend…If she can prove herself to be one. I mean it wasn't just me that she wasn't loyal too. She has all the girls to win back over so I should be the least of her worries."

"Should you be though? I mean with a strong man by her side, I'm sure she'll feel like facing anything" Spot grabbed my arm and swung me around to look at him as I flashed a mega watt smile and tried to flee. He looked SO tired, I just wanted to tuck him in like all the other times, but even I couldn't ignore the anger.

"Riot, what are you playing at? I know you don't want me to be with Cinder."

"Do you now? Do you really know what's in my head?" I snapped at him, tapping my temple with a finger before dropping the butt of my cigarette to the floor, and ground it out with the heel of my boot. I didn't quite understand how someone like Spot, who seemed incapable of complex emotions, could have such a ready supply of them at his disposal, just waiting to throw out at you, so he could latch onto whatever it was he was really aiming for, and sink his teeth into it.

I began to get the feeling that he was thoroughly annoyed with me, and angry, and as much as he was trying to keep me from leaving his side, he also radiated a sharp, prickly confusion towards my words and actions. If I wasn't so angry at him underneath it all, I would have felt ashamed and sorry for what I was doing. But in my mind, it had to be done. If Spot and Cinder could maintain a successful relationship, one wouldn't leave the other, forcing the inevitable to happen. I had found an answer that was a surefire win to me.

Spot sighed, and with a resigned air let go of my sleeve. He gave me a weird look, as if he wasn't sure whether to hug me, or hit me and I couldn't help but giggle inwardly at that. I had had ex-boyfriends tell me that I was pretty much impossible to deal with. That was how I knew I had a keeper, when I started spending time with a guy and he took the time and effort to win me over and get to know ME. It was rare where I was from, growing up in such a small town, that the guys were interested in you as a person at our age. Since they had grown up with us girls, they already felt that they knew us well enough to move to the next step, usually very quickly.

But here, in this era, with these strangers, it was a whole new ballpark. I wasn't used to their games, and ways. Most of the time here, if a guy showed me any interest, it went over my head because I wasn't used to such stalling tactics. And, in the same respect, if I did notice their attempts, it was usually from someone who was very much used to getting what they wanted, when they wanted, Spot being a perfect example.

"So you're telling me, that if I were to go after Cinder right now, it wouldn't bother you." Spot's blue eyes bored into mine, daring me to look away or make a mistake, just one little falter so he could prove that I cared for him. Although in my head I was doing this BECAUSE I cared. Now I was just confusing myself. Scratching my cheek, I stared back at Spot, trying to leave my eyes blank.

"Well it just makes sense is all. I mean we had something that was worth exploring, but I sort of got the feeling that you didn't want to anymore. So I'm just letting you know that it's okay, you have my blessing." Spot's mouth gaped open as he looked at me without blinking. I cast a glance around and saw that most of the kids were migrating into the kitchen to eat supper, or what we passed as such, but that there was still a group hanging around in the lobby.

Cinder was one of them, although she was alone, perched on the edge of a scratched rocking chair that crookedly rocked back and forth in front of the fireplace where a low fire was beginning to die down. Someone would have to remember to bank it before we went to sleep; I made a mental note to do it. I could tell that Cinder was interested in what we were talking about, but she remained far enough away that she couldn't really hear.

"Are you kidding me?" Spot hissed at me, his cheeks beginning to pick up color, as he grew angry. His hand shot out like a cobra striking prey to wrap around my wrist, yanking me towards him, as we teetered against our different stances, before settling back on our feet with my body noticeably closer to his. Up close, it was hard to ignore what I felt for him. I had a hard time fighting my emotions, just wanting to hug him and tell him that I was lying, but that it was for his own good.

Instead I put a hand on his arm and squeezed it, trying to keep my voice from going melancholy as I eased away from him. Using my other hand, I wrenched out of his grip and patted his chest, letting my hand rest just a moment longer than was necessary. Giving him a pleading look, I pointedly didn't answer his question, and with nothing else to say, did what I always do when things became too intense, too personal to deal with. I turned on my heel, and without looking back, headed up the stairs towards the bunkrooms, and walked away.


	19. Chapter 19

_Author's Note- I think I'll just make this standard at every beginning. I am a thousand times sorry. I just have had a lot going on. Anyhow, here comes the story! Thanks – Riot_

**Singing a My Chemical Romance song quietly to myself, I walked down an alley in the Irish section of Brooklyn. Yawning, I scratched an itch on my arm and hefted up my stack of newspapers in another. I made sure that the big, brown shillelagh that I had made was prominently visible hanging from my side. There had been a few attempts at some older youths trying to steal papers and money from girls and some of the younger kids. Spot was busy trying to figure out who was doing it, and had sent out spies everywhere. **

**I sold a paper to an old woman, who while she looked disapprovingly at my weapon, also remarked that I reminded her of her dead granddaughter. 'Go figure', I thought in my head as I gave her a weak smile and walked away. I had had a fitful nights sleep thanks to my argument with Spot, and the fact that I saw him and Cinder walking to the Distribution Office together, made me grind me teeth so hard I thought they would snap. **

**I had quickly headed in the opposite direction after purchasing my papers instead, opting for a neighborhood that I had just found where the people worked hard for a living, but tried to keep up with their buildings, and the surrounding area. Predominantly Irish Catholic, I liked to sit on a barrel outside of a small tobacco store, and listen to the old men talk, and sometimes play the pipes, or a big Irish drum called a 'bodhran'. That's what I was doing, quietly sitting, out of the men's way, my depleted stack of papers at my side when Grim found me.**

**"Hey beautiful, what're you doin' in this neighborhood?" I think I about jumped out of my skin, hearing his scratched up voice next to my ear. Whipping my head around so fast that my braid slapped Grim in the face, I immediately began apologizing. It was then that I saw Bells, hanging back, her face made of stone. Grim grabbed my papers, and grabbed my hand, helping me stand up. I stammered a reply, my eyes going to Bells' face. If looks could kill, I'd be six feet under and stone cold. **

**"Oh I'm just resting my feet is all," I said as I tried to ignore the fact that Grim was still holding my hand. Taking my papers back from him solved that problem. I hefted them onto my shoulder and stood awkwardly silent, scuffing the ground with the toe of my boot as Grim rattled on about how nice it was to see me. Bells didn't say anything either, her face was hidden by a curtain of her messy locks as she tilted her head a certain way to hide it. Finally, I decided that I had had enough and that Grim was just plain oblivious to what was going on.**

**"So anyways, Bells I'll see you later on tonight, Grim, it was good to see you, but I should really get back to selling." A disappointed look flashed across Grim's face before he nodded and gave me a slight smile. As I turned to go, Bells very quickly mouthed 'Thanks' to me as I gave her a weak grin and retreated fast. Being around Grim made my head swim in a way that I was uncomfortable with. I knew he may still like me, and now that I had resigned myself to the fact that Spot and Cinder should be together, I was feeling oddly left out, used to Spot's attentions. But then again that was always my luck with guys it seemed. Nothing had changed with that, just the time period!**

**Later, back at the lodging house, Bells cornered me in the kitchen. I was sitting at the table, my cold hands wrapped around a mug of watered down tea, chatting with Sprite about her latest fight with Skittery. The door swung open, and Bells was there, her face a mask. Something about her demeanor made Sprite stop in the middle of her story, and stutter something about having clothes to wash before hauling her skinny butt out the door. Bells got some tea for herself, and sat down across from me.**

**"I think we need to talk," she said to me finally, after a few moments of quiet. I nodded, an uneasy feeling settling in the pit of my stomach. Bells took a deep breath, and her eyes met mine. Tucking a strand of wayward hair behind one ear, she finally spoke again.**

**"I have been spending a lot of time with Grim lately," she said slowly, a light pink color staining her cheeks. Averting her eyes, she sipped some tea.**

**"I know that he cares for you a great deal, and I suppose I need to know if you care for him as well. I have begun to find myself caring for him very deeply, and I don't want any bad feelings or to get in the way of anything." I think she was shocked when I started giggling, then laughing, wrapping an arm around my stomach, I pounded the table with my other hand and laughed until I started to cry. I tried to speak through the tears, but they kept coming, faster and harder, until they were gut wrenching sobs. Finally, I began to hiccup and got a hold of myself.**

**"I do care about Grim," I said to her, as her eyes became lackluster and lost their cautious look. Putting up my hands in a 'stop' gesture, I continued on.**

**"But only as a friend, Bells. I think it's wonderful that you two have been keeping each other company..." The relief on her face was very apparent as we didn't say anything again, this time for a few moments, just sipping out of our cracked mugs. The light coming into the kitchen from the one of two windows was weak, and it looked and felt like it might snow again. I prayed that it wouldn't, because there was nothing like trudging through drifts to walk down**__**the street.**

**"If it means anything, I'm sorry about Spot. He can be a real pain the arse sometimes, because he's always used to getting what he wants. If he wants something and it isn't readily available he goes to the next best thing. Unfortunately that's how he's always been, when it comes to gambling, drinking, women…" This time I hung my head so that my hair covered my face, my cheeks burning. **

**"Thanks," I mumbled as I put my head down on the table. Suddenly I brought it up again and looked Bells square on.**

**"Do you think that's why he's back with Cinder? Because I didn't make myself readily available?" I hooked my fingers in the air, making quote signs. Bells gave me a slight smile and tilted her head.**

**"It's possible…He doesn't confide in me anymore like he used to. Although I think of him like a little brother, before you and Cinder came I was the one to tuck him in at night after he'd been off drinking like a grown man, even though he was just a little boy. I suppose my heart went out to him in some sense, but I could never bring myself to make it anything more. That's when Cinder came along and the rest is history." I was silent, thinking about a young boy off drinking in a pub somewhere or in a dark alley. **

**"He's been through a lot, you know" Bells said softly. I nodded, dully tracing a line on the table with a fingertip. The door swung open and three boys came in, Tips, Rooster, and a newer boy named Swagger. They greeted us, and proceeded to rummage around for food before begging one of us to make them something. Bells and I just laughed at them, and grumbling, Rooster found some bread and they gnawed on that, dipping it into their tea first since it was stale. **

**Swagger was staring at me, and it was beginning to make me uncomfortable. He was a sinewy muscled boy of medium height, who shaved his head, leaving only black fuzz. He had thick black eyebrows and eyelashes a girl would kill for, that framed eyes a weird hazel color, almost like whiskey in a green jar. All I really knew about him was that he was my age, and had come from Green Point, a sort of sub-borough in Brooklyn, near the Navy yard. He was quiet, didn't talk much. He didn't smile much either, or laugh. He was rather somber, and I would have definitely named him something else if it wasn't for his distinctive walk. **

**Rooster was making Bells and Tips laugh over some drunken escapade that had happened the night before, when the door swung open and Cinder walked in. Helping herself to a mug of tea she greeted everyone before flashing me a smirk. I was about to launch myself from the table when I felt a foot on top of mine. Glancing up, I saw that Swagger had moved to my side, and had surreptitiously stuck his foot over mine. Surprised, I held back, and settled into my chair, determined to not let her intimidate me around the damn lodging house.**

**I only half-listened to the boys and Bells as they discussed plans for the evening. They were talking about going to a pub down the street that the newsies in the area spent most of their time at, called The Green Harp. I was thinking about how I was just going to go to bed, when Swagger put a hand on my shoulder.**

**"You're coming too, aren't you?" I began to formulate a denial when something made me stop and I looked at Swagger and nodded. A corner of his mouth lifted slightly, and as I looked away, I saw an uncertain look cross Cinder's face. Wondering what she was playing at, I rose and made my escape outside to smoke a cigarette, needing the air. As I leaned against the building, I heard snow crunch down the alley next to me. Checking to make sure my shillelagh was still at my hip, I ventured a peek around the corner of the building.**

**A girl was crouched, the top of her head barely cresting the window's edge that looked into the kitchen. I couldn't see her face, but I could tell that she was trying to look into the kitchen without being seen. A window opened over our heads and an icicle fell, startling the girl into looking up, permitting me to see her face. A jolt ran through me when I realized it was Sassy, one of Spook's newsies. What the Hell was she doing spying on us? **

**"Hey!" I called out, making myself known, stepping into the alleyway. Sassy stood up slowly, but as I took a step towards her, she bolted, running down the alleyway and ducking down a small side street quicker than I could catch up to her. Puffing, I looked down the street, and saw her figure disappear onto one of the main streets and then she was gone. Shaking my head, my thoughts swirled around and around as I walked back to the door of the lodging house. Now what the Hell was going on?**


	20. Chapter 20

**Huffing irritably I made my way back around the lodging house after chasing Sassy. Snow crunched underneath my boots and I was suddenly very aware that I had left my coat inside. Shuddering with cold, I rounded the corner and almost slammed into the small group of people standing outside. Spot, Cinder, Rooster, and Swagger all stood in a semi circle, Rooster talking animatedly about some girl who worked at the Green Harp that he wanted to 'show a good time'. I snorted and shook my head, and had three pairs of eyes trained on me in an instant. **

**Cinder's eyes were guarded, but not hostile, Swagger's were slightly leering, and Spot's were as cold as the ice and snow under my feet. Clearing my throat, I went to slip around Swagger and go inside, when Spot's voice stopped me in my tracks. **

**"So I hear you're going to the Green Harp tonight, Riot." I slid my tongue over cracked lips and wished that I had a drink, since my throat was parched. Instead I chose to nod, and Swagger chose that moment to slide his arm around mine and pull me to his side.**

**"Yeah she is," he said to answer Spot, his murky hazel eyes a sharp green color now. I wanted to slide into the gutter and disappear as Spot's lids drooped slightly and his voice became very pleasant. That was never a good sign; it was like the calm before the storm. **

**"Good, we'll be there too." Swagger just nodded, and I wondered again why he was suddenly taking an interest in me and provoking Spot. That in itself was suicidal, since Spot would smear him around the pavement or get one of his boys to do it. I could never understand how such a short, lean kid could punch someone as hard as he could. Maybe it was because he was so goddamned angry that it just overflowed when he fought. I let my mind play out a few scenarios as to how tonight was going to go, and none of them were good. Tucking my hands into my armpits, I broke contact with Swagger and shivered violently. **

**"Maybe you should let her go inside before she freezes to death." My eyes shot to Cinder after she spoke, and we locked gazes for what seemed like forever. There was no malice in her voice or in her eyes, and although I was suspicious, I was damn thankful when Swagger grabbed my hand and pulled me inside, bringing me to the wood stove that was blazing with heat. We'd hacked up a couple of old chairs that we found since we had no firewood and were trying to make the most of it. Sooner or later a few kids would have to go steal coal from the factory, or we'd go searching for things to burn. But for now, I was in heaven, spreading my fingers wide, trying to warm my front and back at the same time.**

**Swagger slouched against the wall near me, his eyes watching the activity in the lobby like a convict watches the Yard. I wondered if he had been in Snyder's or maybe to the Island, a place they sent wayward kids until they had to let them go at twenty-one, or shipped them off to the Navy or some other military outfit. **

**"You shouldn't make Spot angry," I finally said to Swagger. His eyebrows knitted in confusion as he smirked at me, drawing a rolled cigarette out of his vest pocket and offering it to me, before lighting one for himself. I frowned, crossing my arms over my chest, drawing my chin inwards and down in disapproval. Looking at my scuffed, soiled boots for a while, I exhaled a stream of smoke and absently picked a fleck of tobacco leaf from my tongue with a nicotine stained finger. Dear Lord, what a mess I had become in the few short months I had been here.**

**"Do you really think that you can take him? Have you ever seen him fight? "I stood face to face with Swagger, watching him intently. I let my mind race so fast that I was certain smoke was coming out of my ears. Had Spook sent this kid too? What if he was instrumental to what was going to happen in a month, give or take a few days. Duck had told me that every once in a great while, some arrogant kid would show up, trying to take over the leadership role from Spot and they would always fail miserably.**

**Swagger took the last drag of his smoke and put it out in a small tin that he took out of his coat pocket. We all saved whatever remnants of cigarettes that we had so we could make homemade ones when we didn't have any money.**

**"I'm not trying to cause trouble; I'm just saying that you shouldn't believe everything you hear. Stories have a way of changing as they go from mouth to ear to mouth. I know I sure as hell don't think that he could take a really good boxer without using that cane of his…or his lackeys." I was convinced that he was there to do exactly the opposite of what he said, and that he would be a loose cannon to watch out for. **

**Finally warm enough, I gave Swagger a weak smile and began to make my way towards the stairs on the other side of the lobby when I felt someone tug on my sleeve. Turning my head, I was stunned when I saw Cinder standing there, her face pale, the circles under her eyes standing out against her skin. I waited as patiently as I could, until she finally spoke.**

**"Can we talk somewhere…..private?" **

**"You want to talk to me? What the hell for, I don't have anything to say." This time Cinder's tone took on a pleading note and she grasped my hand in her own, her nails almost digging into my skin as she begged, the words tumbling out of her mouth like she had a confession to make and had decided I was her priest. Feeling her desperation seeping into my pores, I finally nodded at her, and we went upstairs, to the floor just below the roof that was used as storage. It didn't hold much, but it was the perfect place for secret meetings if you couldn't use Spot's room. There were a few musty blankets draped over some ancient furniture that we took off and shook, then wrapped ourselves up and sat down on the floor, across from one another. **

**Cinder looked miserable, too thin, and sick. As if to prove my point, her lips trembled and she heaved into an old pot a foot away, crawling like a dog, on her hands and knees to and from the ceramic vessel. When she threw up, my stomach dropped and I felt like doing the same thing, not saying anything until she was back across from me, her hair hiding her face in shadows that came and went as sunlight moved through a dirty broken window behind me.**

**"Holy shit you're pregnant," I gasped at her, feeling my heart shatter into a million pieces as I couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to have a little miniature Spot running around. I didn't realize that I had spoken that last thought out loud, until Cinder smiled wistfully at me and put a hand on her slightly swollen stomach.**

**"Only thing is, it's going to be a miniature Spook, not Spot." My inner voice cheered and in my head a small replica of me began picking up the slivers of my heart, putting it back together. I must have looked relieved because Cinder laughed gently before putting her head in her hands.**

**"Spot hasn't touched me like that since I left to go to Harlem. We've basically been like brother and sister the whole time, unless we were out around you guys. I don't know why he does some of the things he does, but he always has a reason for them, ones you don't always see right away." Pulling my own battered tin box out of my pants pocket and stuck a cigarette into my mouth, trying and failing to get a lit match to my mouth in time. Damn things kept being blown out by the drafts that lived up here. Getting frustrated, I finally got it to light.**

**"So what really happened between you and Spook that made you come back here?" I was angry, but I felt sorry for her, alienated by Brooklyn, and not happy in Harlem. But I was still really pissed that she had come back right when Spot had finally been about to…what I don't know, but at least maybe START trying to be together. When Cinder spoke, I could barely hear her, because she had rested her forearms on her knees and buried her head into them.**

**"What was that?" I strained to hear, and a flash of annoyance spread across her thin face before she lifted her head completely up and spoke clearly. My brain tried to wrap around the name, not understanding why until Cinder smiled at me and repeated herself, this time a little more forcibly. **

**"Sassy did it, Riot. She has a thing for Spook, she has for awhile and when we took up together in the past it always drove her nuts, so when I left she must have taken it as a sign but when I came back, she was definitely not happy." I tried to imagine the ginger haired girl beating Cinder up and unfortunately could see it all to well. Apparently she was not only sullen, but knew how to use her fists, and whether Cinder knew it or not, she was definitely not cut out to act tough although she'd tried damn hard.**

**"Why did you do this to me?" There was a hitch in my voice that I damned myself for, but I was getting a huge migraine. Cinder looked a little confused, then ashamed as she realized what I meant.**

**"I…I had to, Riot. Don't you understand? I had to come somewhere safe as soon as I knew I was pregnant, because I knew Sassy was out to get me. I guess I figured I knew Spot would take me back no matter what, I didn't know you guys had a thing going, but I also knew that if I told the truth, he wouldn't protect me as much as he would if I was his girl. I wanted to put you off of him, so I made you mad, but I saw his face when Swagger grabbed your arm, and I knew that he cared about you too much for me to continue this." Unfortunately given the gang mentality that ran rampant through most of the boroughs, I understood all too well. Girls were tolerated, sometimes indulged, but they were expected to take care of themselves unless they of course had a person who was their personal protector, a boyfriend, brother, and etcetera. So in order for her to insert herself into the role of girlfriend, she had trampled all over what she could to get to Spot.**

**"You don't think Spook would have protected you against Sassy?" My voice was slightly incredulous; as I had seen how fiercely he defended her that night I had just shown up to try to talk to her. Cinder dipped her head, and then shrugged, drawing a design on the floor in the dust with a finger. **

**"Yeah, probably, but you don't know him and Sassy. He may be in love with me, but he does care for her too in some way. He used her when I was gone, but he told me he never led her along, told me that he always said to her that he was going to get me back. I can only imagine what it must have been like for her, but of course, I don't feel bad now…I feel…afraid." Crossing her arms over her abdomen, I felt anger flooding my body at how selfish she was. She wasn't a bad person, like I had thought, or even evil, as I had thought when furious, but just a selfish, teenage girl. **

**"Well…we can't stay up here all afternoon, especially with how cold it is. Are you going to go tell Spook what you've told me?" I saw a look of misery before she dipped her head again, hiding her face for a few seconds. Then she shuddered, and stood up, dropping the blanket onto the floor.**

**"I don't know how he'll take it, I mean we never talked about what could happen or what we'd do, but he knows of course what happens sometimes when you do…what we've done." Her cheeks flooded a bright red color and I nodded, looking away to spare her embarrassment. **

**"Well then, I guess there's only one thing TO do," I said decisively and stood up as well, tossing my blanket onto a pile of boxes. Cinder looked at me, her eyes curious as we headed towards the trap door and the small staircase that led to where we were. Pulling the door open, we stepped down and were finally back in the hustle and bustle of things. We got a few looks as we walked down the hallway towards the girl's room.**

**"And what's that?" Cinder asked me softly as we entered, going to get ready for the night out. I turned towards her, a joyless smile on my face and spread my hands out in a helpless gesture. Pulling my vest off, I changed my shirt to a gray one that matched my eyes and then pulled my vest on again, buttoning it up.**

**"You're going to take me to Harlem, and I'm going to have to talk to Spook."**

**Thank you everyone who still reads this, and who reviewed, I am soooo happy you like my story! **


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N – Yay new reviewers!! I'm so glad to see new faces and old ones as well. Thanks for the support, it means a lot. –A/N**

**Hope flickered on Cinder's face at my words and I had to look away from the naked expression she wore. Grabbing a brush from the small nightstand by my cot, I ran it threw my hair, wincing at the snarls. Then I set about peeling off the old stockings I wore, and putting fresh ones on. As I bent over, my long hair shielded my face and hid the worry that I knew was there. Holding a hand up to my mouth, I huffed out a breath and almost keeled over, smelling the garlic from a quick meal I had purchased off a street vendor for lunch. Ignoring Cinder, I ducked down the hallway and into the washroom, scrubbing my teeth with an odd powdered mixture that the kids used for such purposes. I doubted that it worked very well; most of them were missing at least two or more teeth already.**

**When I went back into the bunkroom, Emotions was there, stripping her shirt off to put on a cleaner one. Her face was impassive, but set in stormy lines around her mouth, her eyes averted, cheeks flushed. Cinder was sitting on the edge of my cot, fixing her shirt so that it hid her stomach, even though she wasn't showing yet. I knew that Emotions and Cinder had been good friends once, but her defection to Harlem was a line she couldn't cross back over. **

**"You can't hate her forever," I remarked quietly when Cinder wandered away from the bunkroom and we listened to her retreating footsteps as they went down the stairs to the lobby. Challenging hazel eyes met mine, and we just looked at each other before Emotions looked away, struggling to maintain her calm. I understood how she felt, for I had always had a volatile temper that got me into a lot of trouble back home. Home, I thought wistfully, wondering where I would end up. I figured I would be tossed around in the flotsam and jetsam of the limbo I had been thrust into. Other times when I thought about it, I blinked hard, and pinched myself as if to help wake me from this bizarre dream. All I accomplished was to cover myself in bruises. **

**"I don't hate her…" Emotions words were uttered so softly that at first I wasn't sure that I had heard them. She was hooking suspenders onto her knickers, and pulling them over her shoulders, her ink stained hands moving slowly. Turning around, I tucked my brass knuckles into my back pocket, stomped my feet into my worn out boots, and slid into the soldier's coat I owned. Looking about, I couldn't find my scally cap and I frowned, not wanting my ears to fall off my head on the walk to the Green Harp. It was thrust into my face suddenly, the tattoo on Emotions' wrist standing out in their simplicity until she dropped my cap into my hands and began buttoning the cuffs of her shirt.**

**"Look…I don't handle being left in the dark very well and what Cinder did, leaving like that without even trying to tell any of us why…It sticks in yer throat," she muttered, brushing a lock of her auburn hair behind her ear, hazel eyes serious. I nodded silently, letting her know that I knew how she felt, but I didn't feel compelled to let her in on Cinder's secret, not yet. As we finished preparing to go out, Sprite blew into the room, tears in her eyes, looking paler and thinner than I remembered. She was practically emaciated and she needed a hot meal and a long nap. Bookworm followed her dark eyes troubled, a bright red scarf wrapped around her hair. Bookworm was the dorm mother, and comforted each of us in whatever way she felt she could. Right now, Sprite needed her after having yet another argument with Skittery. Half-listening as I cocked my cap on my head, I made out that Skittery wanted Sprite to go live at the Manhattan lodging house, while she wanted him here. **

**Duck walked in, rolling her eyes quickly at me, a slight grin tugging up a corner of her mouth before she let her face go blank, and joined Bookworm and Sprite. Duck had her finger marking a place in a very thick book, and she made no attempt to hide that she was reading while listening to Sprite, adding in her own bits of wisdom every now and again. I realized as I left the room to go down to the lobby how much I liked it in Brooklyn, and how sad I would be when or if I ever got home. I could honestly say that I would miss everyone very, very much.**

**Once in the lobby, the motley crew that was going out tonight began to assemble. Spot was there, leaning up against a wall, his gray cap slung low over his eyes, wearing a navy pea coat that he must have picked up at the Navy Yard. He had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, and for a moment it reminded me of James Dean. Snorting under my breath, I avoided his eyes as Emotions came downstairs, followed by Rooster and Swagger. Cinder appeared out of the kitchen as Swagger reached my side and slid his arm through mine. I caught a quick glower from Spot as Swagger ushered me to the door, leading the way outside and down the street to the Green Harp. It was only a few minutes away, but all the snow made for treacherous walking. No one spoke until we had reached the entrance way and headed inside. As we entered the bar, it took a few seconds for our eyes to adjust to the dim lighting and thick haze of cigarette smoke. **

**A line of girls was doing the can-can on stage, their stocking legs flashing through the ruffles of their brightly colored skirts. The crowd was mostly if not all male, but there were a few women, some waitresses, others obviously working the room, trying to score. As we sat at a small round table near the back, the rousing music of the dance number subsided and the room filled with boisterous chatter in between acts. A middle aged woman wearing a stained apron over her ample waist came over and asked us what we wanted. All of us ordered pints, which were brought over in due time. **

**As we sipped our drinks, Swagger kept talking in my ear, an arm slung around my shoulders. I found his close proximity annoying, and kept leaning away from him. I wasn't big on guys being overly aggressive with me and even though Spot had done some things that I found forward, he always managed to keep just enough distance between us emotionally and physically which was one of the reasons I had thought he was back with Cinder. I never understood people who could keep their emotions in check so well, or learned how to turn them off and on like a light switch. I felt my emotions and displayed them no matter what they were. Then the music started up again, a keening tin whistle filling the air joined after a few melodic notes by an Irish drum and a violin. **

**Swagger seemed to get tired of my ignoring him and moodily sipped on his drink. I began to get the feeling that tonight was going to end very badly when I looked up into the shuttered, yet probing gaze of Spot from beneath the brim of his cap. Cinder sat at his side, but for the first time, she didn't cling to him or look at me with hate. I wondered if Spot knew, and also knew that she had confided in me, thereby relieving him of having to protect her so thoroughly, but then again I wasn't really sure. Emotions began tapping her finger on the table as the group onstage slid into a more rousing number, and a space was cleared on the floor, some of the men beginning to dance with showgirls who had appeared from a door on the side of the stage, others dancing with girls who looked worn and beaten down by life on the streets.**

**Emotions was hauled up by Rooster, who even though he knew that she was with Racetrack, couldn't let an opportunity to dance with a pretty girl go to waste. Swagger glanced over at me, but I smiled apologetically and explained how dancing was hazardous to not only my health but others around me. Swagger just shrugged and jerked his head inquiringly towards Cinder, who nodded slowly and they left, leaving Spot and I alone. Spot had shrugged out of his coat, and rolled his sleeves up, combating the heat of so many people in such a closed in space. I could see the lean muscles bunching underneath the skin on his arms as he leaned forward from across the table, resting his hands clasped together, tilting his head towards mine so I could hear him over the din. **

**"Why did you come here with Swagger?" His words were slightly muffled as he had stuck a smoke into his mouth, but I understood him. Lifting my hands palms up, I raised my shoulders and gave him a quizzical expression before I could feel the fake smile on my face tighten and freeze. Putting my hands down, I stared at Spot intently, lazily twirling a lock of my hair around a finger before tucking it behind an ear and lighting a cigarette of my own. **

**"What the Hell do you care?" I asked, using the cigarette to emphasize my words, jabbing it in his direction. Taking a drag, he let smoke trail out of his mouth and around his face and head before grasping my wrist in a cool, rough hand. Shocked at his touch after what seemed like forever, it took me half a breath before I jerked my arm away, inhaling on my cigarette like it was going to disappear, watching the tobacco and paper flare and crinkle, turning to whitish gray ash. **

**"Don't touch me," I snapped at him, angry that he had that effect on me, and also angry from seeing his answering grin that he knew it. Calmly, he just tried another approach, this time reaching forward, but only with a finger outstretched, lightly running it across the knuckles of my right hand which I had fisted tightly on the surface of the table. I hoped like Hell he couldn't feel the jump of my pulse as my heart began to thump overtime in my chest. **

**"You know I care," was all he said as we looked at each other, transfixed. Scowling, I finished my cigarette and dropping it onto the floor, ground it out under the toe of my boot before draining my pint glass. Signaling the waitress, Spot held up two fingers and waited until she had cleared our empties before continuing to stroke my hand. Looking pointedly at the empties of Swagger and Emotions, I shot a glance at Spot.**

**"Why didn't you order for them?"**

**"Fuck 'em, they can talk," he grated out, his voice drier and raspier than normal. He had seemed to grow up overnight, his shoulders widening, Adams apple becoming more apparent. The waitress put their drinks down with a dull thunk and moved on, not seeming to hear my weak 'Thanks'. Gripping the glass as if it was a life preserver, I downed half of it in a few seconds and then wiped my mouth on my sleeve.**

**"Last I checked, you didn't seem to give two shits about what I did or who I did it with, so why don't you lay off," I snapped suddenly, feeling the anger inside of me rising from my guts up my neck and to my face, the rush of adrenaline hitting me as fast as I was sure the red flush of my skin had followed. Standing, I knocked back the rest of my pint, and muttering something about needing air, I grabbed jacket and cap, and went out the front door. The cold air stung me like a slap to the face as I raised my eyes upwards, looking for stars. Already the city seemed to have a slight haze over its skyline, as I knew well enough would deepen and get worse as the decades went on. Leaning up against the building, I lit up another cigarette and groaned as a hand cupped my shoulder. **

**"Listen Spot, I REALLY am not in the mood for this…" the words died on my lips as I swung around to face Swagger, who just smirked at me. I also really didn't want to deal with him either, I realized as he leaned up against the wall next to me, his shoulder touching mine. We stood there for a few moments not saying anything until I felt Swagger shift his weight and put his hand under my chin, turning my face towards his. His mouth came down hard on mine, so hard in fact that our teeth clicked together, and my lips went numb as he assaulted me with his kiss. Putting a hand on his chest, I pushed to no avail, making noises in my throat to show my distress.**

**Apparently that only urged him on, for he pinned me against the wall with his body and I struggled, feeling one of his icy hands worm it's way through my suddenly unbuttoned coat, and underneath the hem of my blouse, not stopping until he found one of my breasts. Rage surged through me as I fought against him with fists, nails, trying to ram my knees into his genitals, but nothing seemed to work. Crying in earnest this time, I felt the hot prick of tears against my cheeks as his hand slid down towards the buttons on the front of my trousers. **

**When he stopped kissing me to get some air, I tried biting him, but he avoided me easily, although his eyes shut down, becoming cold and unfeeling in the dim light. Shoving with all my might finally managed to dislodge him just enough that he abandoned his plans at the moment and I felt relief turn my knees to jelly as I tried to make my way back inside. **

**"Where are you going? You've been asking for this ever since I laid eyes on you." At Swagger's words, I stopped dead although every fiber of my being screamed at me to keep going. I heard snow crunch under my boots as I turned towards him and his suddenly arrogant, knowing sneer. Even knowing that the words he said were out of feeling rejected, and rang with false bravado, I didn't care. **

**"Asking for it? Asking for it? Is this what you call asking for it?" I shouted at him, striking out towards his face with my fist, but connecting with his ear hard enough to make him step back, shaking his head like a stunned bear. Then anger overtook him, and he had me up against the wall again, this time with my hands clasped over my head, me wriggling back and forth trying to get away. **

**Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for Swagger, Spot took that moment to come outside, his curious eyes gazing around and finally alighting on us where Swagger had me hidden in the shadows. Annoyance turned to raw fury on Spot's face as he ran over and with two hands hauled Swagger off of me, throwing him to the ground. Shaken, I began righting my disarrayed clothing as Spot turned towards me, his eyes asking me a silent question to which I nodded that yes, I was alright. Whatever Spot had seen there, it wasn't enough for as Swagger started to rise, Spot kicked him hard, on the side and then straddled him, rolling him over so that he was on his back, Spot kneeling over him, pounding his face in with such sheer tenacity that I wondered if he would ever stop. **

**Screaming for the others, it took Rooster, Emotions and me to pull Spot off Swagger. When we finally did, his shirt was saturated with blood although a quick once over showed that most of it was Swaggers. He was NOT going to be feeling well for awhile, I guessed as Spot hauled up partway by the collar of his shirt and literally growled at him.**

**"You come near my girl again and I'll fucking kill you, y'hear?" His words made my chest swell, and heart feel like it was floating inside my body as Rooster grabbed Swagger and threw him towards the street. Spot then and there banished him from the City saying that if he or any of his newsies saw him again he'd get a good beating. **

**"Now what do we do," I asked Spot timidly as he stalked towards me, walking on the balls of his feet, looking all the while like a cat stalking prey. Grabbing me by the elbow, he began steering me down the street, his face stormy, chin muscles firmly clenched, his eyes the blue-gray of the sea before it rained.**

**"Now you and I need to talk, cuz boy is this shit not going to happen anymore."**


	22. Chapter 22

**Yay for reviews and Yay for cake from reviewers! Thanks again everyone, for continuing to read this long-arse story.**

**I didn't say anything as Spot dragged me down the street, except look back to see if the rest of the kids were following. Swagger had lurched off in the opposite direction at a fast pace. I worried about a borough war, for I knew that Swagger was from Green Point, and while it was a part of Brooklyn, it had its own lodging house with its own newsies. I was also worried about what Spot wanted to talk to me about. He didn't talk to me at all, except to mutter under his breath and make angry noises when I lagged, or slid on the snow covered street. **

**When we reached the lodging house, a fine snow had begun to fall and I blinked at the beauty of it winking through the street lamps that had been illuminated. Emotions went to open her mouth as the rest of the group reached us where we stood outside, next to the front stoop, but Spot just pointed towards the door, the muscles in his jaw clenched shut when they paused. Apparently something in his face made them all calmly troop inside, although Emotions looked concerned, and Cinder slightly distressed. Rooster had managed to throw back a few more pints then the rest of us and he was unaware except for knowing that the boss was angry. **

**Spot still had a hand clenched around my wrist, and he yanked me over to the stoop, shoving me down with a rough hand. Annoyed, I glared up at him and ripped my arm away from his grasp. The stone underneath my butt was freezing and I shifted uncomfortably, watching Spot pace back and forth, smoke streaming along behind him from a cigarette he was smoking furiously. I stood up to save my behind, and Spot shot a poisonous glower at me that made me freeze in place, a cigarette half-way to my mouth.**

**"What the Hell is your problem? I didn't do anything wrong y'know." Spot stopped and advanced on me, his face twisted, a shocked laugh erupting from his mouth. I stepped back, alarmed, until my back hit the wall of the lodging house, reminding me of the position I had been in a few short moments before. Throwing up my hands to ward Spot off, I was taken aback when he stopped in front of me, gripping my chin with a white-knuckled grip.**

**"Didn't you? Didn't you do something wrong by letting him take you out? Aren't you smarter than that, going outside at night, alone, in Brooklyn, and NOT expect something to happen? What if someone had robbed you instead, or tried to kill you? Do you really not value yourself enough that you wouldn't think about the bad things that could happen to a stupid girl?"**

**"Fuck you!"**

**"Fuck me? Is that what you're after then, should I not have interrupted Swagger? Maybe you had what was coming to you all along…" Spot never finished that sentiment for I heaved a fist into his gut with so much furor that he actually gasped out a breath, dropping the cigarette from his mouth, into the snow at our feet. A wet hissing sound faded into the background as Spot doubled over, clutching his stomach with a hand. **

**I took that moment to try to make my escape, once again for the second time since I had come to this Godforsaken place, feeling Spot's grip on my chin after he had already let go, knowing there would be bruises. Shooting by Spot, my anger fueling my reflexes, I dodged a hand he shot out, trying to grab me again, but stopped when I heard him wheeze out a few words.**

**"What did you say?" I looked back at him, confusion flitting across my face, my heart skittering in my chest.**

**"You scared me tonight," he rasped out after straightening up and looking at me, his face drained of anger. Instead he just looked very tired and worse for wear. Jamming my hands deep into my coat pockets I gazed at the ground, not sure what to say or how to act. **

**"When I came outside and saw what Swagger was doing to you, I swear I just wanted to kill him. I mean how dare he, when he has no allies, nobody to take his side, and he picks you of all people to try that shit with? You weren't even drunk or else God knows what would have happened." I finally looked back up, meeting Spot's eyes and found them to be unavoidable this time, like magnets. Shakily lighting a cigarette, I winced as a gust of wind blew snow at the back of my head, and Spot noticed the weather for the first time tonight.**

**"Let's go inside and finish this discussion, we're not done." With that he turned and went inside, holding the door open until I followed him, and both of us took our coats off and hung them on the pegs by the door. Spot guided me with a hand on cupping my elbow, firm yet a heck of a lot gentler than before. All I wanted to do was to go upstairs and crawl into bed, but while we both went upstairs, it was down the hall to his room we went instead. Unlocking the door with the key around his neck, Spot paused to light a lantern he had recently acquired, and the room was bathed in a soft yellowish orange glow. Sinking down into a chair by his window, I heaved out a huge sigh and lit a cigarette. I was bushed and although most of me was intrigued by what Spot had to say, I also wanted him to hurry this along. **

**"Ever since you've been here, you've acted like you think nothing can hurt you and I just don't understand it." My eyes widened at Spot's words, knowing that while most of the illnesses of the time probably would have no affect on my modern immune system, I was far from being saved from violence or emotional issues. I must have looked confused, because Spot chuckled mirthlessly, collapsing onto his mattress on the floor, sitting on the edge to kick off his boots. **

**"You show up in Brooklyn, not knowing a soul and expect us to take you in. Then you go to Manhattan and do the same thing, before coming BACK here and demanding to be taken in again. Then you go to Harlem, expecting to go there ALONE, even though I know some people went with you, you provoke some jackass into taking liberties with you, and you just…you make me…I want to throttle you as much as look at you half the time!" I sat down heavily onto a stray chair, my mouth open and eyes wide. I had never really looked at my actions and what consequences would follow if I wasn't careful, I just sort of plowed along knowing the outcome if I couldn't change something, anything.**

**"So you want to kill me all the time, is that why I'm sitting here?" I tried to make my voice casual as I took a leaf of cigarette paper and clumsily tried filling it with loose tobacco from my tin. My hands were shaking and I cursed loudly, finally making an awkward looking roll and sticking it into my mouth. I patted my pockets, not wanting to look in Spot's direction, but also to find a match. A sudden flare of light and heat made me jerk back, startled, before I realized Spot had lit a match for me and was crouching in front of me. I leaned forward until the tip of my cigarette met the flame, and inhaled deeply, smoke filling the narrow space between us as I finally settled back. Spot didn't move, just crouched in front of me, shaking the match out and tossing it onto the floor. **

**The light from his gas lamp made his eyes flicker and dance in the semi-lit shadows. I shut my eyes, taking another pull off of my smoke, not wanting to deal with the surge of emotions that flooded my chest at his closeness. My eyes shot open when I felt hands gripping my wrists, and I saw that Spot had closed even more distance between us, kneeling now, his hands becoming gentle shackles. **

**"You're right; I do want to kill you most of the time, Riot. But that little piece of time where I don't…" He cleared his throat, and I almost felt bad for him as his face became an uncomfortable mask. But he didn't move away, just looked at me so intently that I could have sworn he burnt holes through my head. **

**"The rest of the time…" His words were muffled as he moved forward, cupping the back of my neck with one hand, and with the other pulled me close until he spoke with his lips almost against mine. I thought I was going to pee I was so nervous, and I worried that he could smell my sweat and I would have given anything for deodorant right about then. But when he finally kissed me, I relaxed and grasped his shoulders with my hands, holding onto the worn fabric of his shirt. **

**"The rest of the time I want to put you in my pocket and make sure nothing bad happens to you. I should have given you a different nickname, something to do with trouble because Christ on a shingle you definitely invite that in." We had pulled apart, but we still held onto each other. My cheeks flamed at his words, even though they were said gently there was definitely a sarcastic edge to them. But when I looked at his face, his smile was genuine if slight. I knew he meant every single word that he said and I knew I should reevaluate my ideas of mortality but not now. **

**"I'm sorry if I hurt you by making it seem like Cinder and I were together. I was worried that the girls would be so angry that if I left her alone, she'd get her ass handed to her. Although I'm sure she deserves it to some extent, I could never let that happen no matter how angry and upset I am with her. Not even if I knew that it would be done on my behalf."**

**"IF you hurt me you say? IF?! I can't believe you, Spot. You pretty much tell me that we're an item and then almost within the next breath are letting some girl make you act completely different for HER benefit? What about what happens to ME?"**

**Spot was silent as I ranted, just letting me get it out of my system. I was so angry that my hands were shaking, and I forced myself to let go of Spot's shoulders. We sat in silence, listening to the thuds and voices of kids down the hall getting ready for bed. I stood up suddenly, wanting to go to my cot, but Spot stood up too, not letting go of one of my wrists.**

**"I had to, Riot. I know you don't understand and I don't really know how to make you understand. But she was with me for awhile and it was the least I could do y'know, protect her from people here until she could become comfortable enough to protect herself. It was not how I'm sure you think it must have been, I promise you." I sneered, making a derisive sound in my throat at his words even as they struck a chord in me and I knew that I DID understand, and that if he was telling the truth it would be childish of me to hold it against him. **

**"Look…You did what you had to do and now it's done so we can just move on," I said to him trying to inject cheer into my voice. I was always bad at acting though, and I saw him frown even as his eyes seemed to glimmer in anger and turn a deeper blue than normal. He put a hand against my cheek and it was all I could do not to turn my face into his palm and breathe in his warmth. **

**"You're right, we can move on…for the better if we want to. I know I do." I felt like I was watching a corny romance movie, but my heart began to pound in my chest and my legs went numb with heat as he dipped his head in and kissed me again. Wrapping an arm around my waist, Spot made sure I didn't go anywhere for another ten minutes or so. I finally pulled away with regret, knowing that I wouldn't want to get him riled up. He took one of my hands into his and looked at me imploringly.**

**"You can stay here you know, with me…" I sucked a breath in sharply and cocked my head at him. I wasn't a virgin, but that didn't mean I wanted to throw myself at the kid either. Honestly he had a lot to do to win my trust back which he started to do with a rueful smile at my apparent distress.**

**"Sorry, I know that would be a little forward of me…"**

**"A little, you think? I would have to say immensely forward of you." Spot laughed at me, burying his head against my neck just below my ear, inhaling and exhaling which tickled me. I tried to twist away, and we grappled with each other for a minute, both of us finally laughing. It felt good, and it felt sort of right. My chest became tight, and I couldn't breathe very well, so I took that moment to escape from his grasp, tossing a look over my shoulder as I went for the door.**

**"Riot…" Spot's voice was husky and as my hand caught the cold knob of the door, I looked back at him. His face was thin, accentuated by the poor lighting. His eyebrows were drawn together, and he had an expression on his face that I couldn't quite figure out. He looked tired, scared, and happy all at the same time. It was a rather odd, confusing mixture but it comforted me knowing that my face must look the same, showing the feelings that I hoped we both shared. I waited for him to speak again, but he just held out a hand for a moment, then letting it drop to his side.**

**"Get some sleep," he said finally, turning away abruptly. I nodded and opened the door, going back to the girl's room, my pulse thundering in my ears. I was upset by what had happened earlier, but I was even more befuddled as to why Spot would think that I would stay in his room with him after just finding out that he had been lying to me about the situation with Cinder. Kicking off my boots underneath my cot, I rolled myself up into my scratchy blanket.**

**My mind raced about the day and night's events and something Bells had said leapt to the front of my mind. Would he really hold back just because I wasn't making myself available to him like some whore? I grimaced, knowing that the word 'whore' was a strong one to use, especially since I sort of liked Cinder again and felt bad for her. But it was just so arrogant of him to expect that because he hinted to the fact that he cared about me, that I would rip my clothes off and spend the night. Snorting into my thin, lumpy pillow, I shook my head and pressed the heels of my hands against my closed eyes as I tried to count sheep. **

**I only succeeded in giving myself a headache and I never really did fall asleep. Most of the night I drifted in and out of dreams, waking up suddenly as if someone had emptied a bucket of water over my head just to see nothing but darkness and hear the sounds of the girls sleeping. More than once this happened until I finally saw the grayish pink light of dawn outside. Gathering myself together, I went down to the kitchen and made a mug of tea. **

**I savored the warmth, knowing that shortly I would be outside selling papers and made a face at the thought. Then I jolted upright out of my sleepy stupor when I realized that I only had two and a half weeks before Christmas, and after that came New Years. I didn't want my time here to end, but it was fast approaching the deadline no matter what I wanted. It was time to get the ball rolling. **


	23. Chapter 23

A/N—Thanks for the reviews, you guys are as always, wonderful and appreciated immensely!! –A/N

"Well, well I see that Spot didn't kill yah," Emotions slumped down across from me at the table where I was drinking my tea. She had her hair in a sloppy braid, and wore a grimy white shirt and a black vest. Her eyes assessed me looking for any damage. She was always making sure none of us got manhandled although even if I did get roughed up by Spot I wondered what she would do about that. It made me chuckle, thinking of those two going head to head. Duck followed her in, going straight to the teapot and pouring out tea for herself and Emotions.

Setting down the chipped mugs, Duck snagged a chair and looked at me expectantly. I fidgeted, turning my mug around and around on the table top, not wanting to get into last night. Part of me felt ashamed that I didn't just throw caution to the wind and do what Spot obviously wanted to do, but the other part of me was ashamed that I was even considering it. I think that just knowing that girls were respected more for not doing those sorts of things in this time was a big part of the problem.

"Why would Spot kill Riot?" I winced at Duck's question, not knowing that she had heard it and hemmed and hawed until Emotions speared me with a glower that made me stop in my tracks, eyes widening. Pointing at my face, she shook her finger warningly.

"Yah got bruises on your chin, and wrists. If he didn't do that then who did?"

"Swagger," I whispered softly. Duck yelped in shock, but Emotions had been there last night, and knew that Spot kicked Swagger's ass. She just hadn't seen the mess that had happened beforehand to make Spot WANT to kill Swagger. Still, Emotions looked a little surprised.

"Well what the Hell happened?" She growled impatiently before crossing her arms over her chest and looking at me expectantly. I tugged at a lock of my hair that had escaped the ponytail I had put it in and nervously told them what had happened. Both girls were silent for a long time, not exactly knowing what to say but Emotions eyes were fairly sparkling when I got to the part about Spot going after Swagger.

"The rest, well Emotions knows the rest…"

"HAH! Not bloody likely…What happened after we got home?"

"Isn't anything sacred around here or do you all go around snooping into other people's business as a force of habit?" I snapped at her, irritated beyond belief because I didn't want to tell them about how Spot had asked me to sleep with him, and I had refused, then been told to go to bed like a child. Jutting out my lower lip in a sulky gesture, I shook my head at their prodding until Emotions crowed and slapped the table.

"He wanted you to sleep in his room didn't he?" I jerked like I had been stung, and Emotions laughed, wiping tears from her eyes. I didn't know what was so damn funny, and I said as much. Emotions calmed down and looked at me steadily.

"You didn't stay did you? You wouldn't, you think too much about what other people would think. I say do what the Hell moves you. I'll tell yah Riot, even though Spot has the reputation of being the ladies man, when he's set his sights on someone, he doesn't stray." Duck nodded in affirmation, her face solemn. My mouth gaped open in shock as I looked from one to the other.

So you're telling me that I SHOULD sleep with him?" Emotions shrugged and sighed, drinking her tea down like a shot of whisky before settling serious eyes on mine.

"Why not, it's not like us street scum rate enough in the world to care what proper folk think of us." Her voice was mild, but carried bitter undertones. I shuddered, not even being able to imagine what trials these kids had been put through growing up. I had only been here a few months and had seen a lot, but not enough.

"Well…" I began tentatively, "I care what you think…all of you." Duck smiled and laid a hand on mine, before gathering up our mugs and washing them out underneath the pump.

"We would like you just the same," was all she said before touching the top of my head briefly and going out the door. Emotions stood up and hooked her thumbs into her suspenders and snapped them before cocking her head jauntily at me.

"C'mon then, it's time to sell."

I trailed along behind everyone, speaking earnestly to Cinder about our plans to go to Harlem. We had decided that I would go tonight, and recruit Silver and Misery from Manhattan to accompany me. Cinder said that bringing any boys would probably set them off, and I agreed. So with a plan set in place, we reached the distribution center and bought our papers. It wasn't until I exited the yard that I saw Spot leaning up against the wall just outside the gate, smoking a cigarette cowboy style.

I could tell by the way he had his hands jammed into his pocket, cane through a belt loop, and cap over his eyes that he was in a snit. Not to mention the fact that he almost bit the head off Action as the kid said 'Good morning' to him on his way by, and that his jaw looked like it had been set in cement. Shrugging, I pulled my cap down over my head and shouldered my papers, pulling the ratty scarf I had found low over my mouth so as not to muffle my shouts.

I only got a few feet before I heard footsteps behind me, crunching through the grit and snow on the street. I didn't pay any attention; I figured it was a kid on his way to a selling spot near mine. I had made my spot in the Irish section, next to the general store where Grim and Bells had found me some days ago. It was a good place, and the owner of the store let me come in and warm myself by his potbellied stove. I loved it, for I could watch the old men who spent time there play checkers or chess and tell stories in lilting accents.

Setting up shop, I turned to start hawking my papers when I found myself face to face with Spot. His nose was red with cold, but his eyes were as blue as the shadows on the snow. We faced each other silently before he held out a penny. I looked at him, confused until he took my hand, put the penny into my palm and wrapped my fingers around it. Then he took a paper from my stack, and disappeared into the general store. My mouth flapped open and I couldn't speak as I tried to wrap my head around his oddities. Then a man came up and bought a paper from me, and I began hollering out headlines, my mind so garbled that I made up quite a few extraordinary ones.

Sometime around midday, I thought my nose and fingers were going to fall off, so I limped into the general store where I found Spot perusing the paper he had bought from me, sitting on a footstool, his legs stretched out towards the wood stove. I must have growled, because he looked up and for half a second, amusement sparked through his eyes before he got up and with a gallant air, offered me the stool. I took it with a haughty sniff, and then began groaning in agony and pleasure as my body warmed up. When I looked up after taking off my cap and stuffing my sleeveless gloves and scarf into it, I saw that Spot was watching me, leaning against a wooden post that supported the upper part of the store.

"Lemme guess, you know the owner of this store too," I said snidely as Spot plucked an apple from a display, shined it on his shirt and bit into it with a satisfying crunch. Grinning around the white flesh of the fruit, he nodded and chewed. My stomach growled noisily as I gazed longing at the apple. Finally giving me a wicked smile, he tossed me the fruit and sat on the floor next to me. I dug in, devouring it in minutes as Spot studied me out of the corner of his eye.

"I know everyone in Brooklyn," Spot finally said, rolling a cigarette with some loose tobacco and paper. Thoughtfully, he cocked his head and looked me square in the eyes, holding my gaze for a few heartbeats before going back to his task.

"But I don't know you, Riot…Not at all. I gotta say you confuse the Hell outta me and it grates on me something awful."

"Gee I'm so sorry," I muttered sarcastically. Spot smiled at me, his eyes lighting up as he chuckled around the cigarette he stuck into his mouth.

"Don't get sore, lemme finish. Now I didn't say that I didn't LIKE the fact that you confuse me, just that y'know…you do." Standing, he lifted me off the stool and we were face to face, the smoke from his cigarette making my eyes water a little as he quirked up a corner of his mouth.

"But the one thing I do know is that I do like you," he said quietly putting emphasis on the last 'do'. My heart skittered in my chest as he ran a finger down my cheek. Then he abruptly pulled away and gathering my things, handed them to me. I stared at him, torn between wanting to punch him in the face, or kiss him. As I threw my cap, scarf and gloves on, I felt my gut churn as we went outside. As I followed him out of the store, he turned to say something to me, and I paused, looked at him for a second, then grabbed the front of his coat and pulled his face down to mine, pressing my lips firmly against his.

He stiffened for an instant before wrapping his arms around me and deepening the kiss. We broke apart, breathless and I laughed at the expression on his face. Slinging an arm around my shoulder, he knocked the brim of my cap down in the familiar way he always did and we walked along in silence for a moment.

"I was waiting for you to do that," he said as we reached the end of the street. I stopped and looked up at him, slightly lost. He grinned and we both paused to light cigarettes before continuing on.

"I kept telling myself that you weren't interested which of course made me mad, because hey, I'm the King." At this I jabbed his side and tried to trip him, but he managed to right himself while laughing.

"But it just made me like you more but then Cinder came back and I felt obligated…And when you got angry and pulled away I told myself that I would wait until you came crawling back," at this he was laughing so hard at the look on my face that I growled, shoved him into a snow bank and tried to whitewash him. We grappled for a few seconds before standing up and walking on.

"I decided to be patient for once because I knew you cared and I knew you'd come back." He tilted my chin up with a finger and pressed a lingering kiss on my lips before grabbing my hand and pulling me down the street. The bounce was back in his swagger, and I smiled. Then I sobered up as I realized that it was time to meet with Cinder and go straight into the lion's den.


	24. Chapter 24

"**Are you ready?" I looked up as Cinder entered the girl's room, where I was adding layers to my clothing so I didn't freeze, and tucking away small weapons where I could get at them. Nodding, my face lined with apprehension, I slid my shillelagh through a belt loop and then pulled my huge coat on, followed by cap, scarf, and gloves.**

**Cinder's face was drawn and pale, her mouth tight and frowning. I knew that no matter how nervous I was about this, she must be shitting her pants. Making sure my smokes were in my pocket, we sidled out of the room, keeping an eye open for Spot, or any of the other kids.**

**Miraculously enough we only passed by some smaller kids as we went out the back door of the kitchen. I knew that within the hour Spot would know that I and Cinder had left together. He was like the freakin' Godfather for Christ's sake, he knew everyone and everything. **

**Neither of us said much as we went our way through the alleys and streets until we got to Brooklyn Bridge. There was no other way over to Manhattan and Harlem, except using the river, and we didn't have that advantage. Looking around, I didn't see any of Spot's sentries which meant that there was one close by, but he had gone somewhere to get out of the bitter cold.**

"**Tips is right over there," Cinder found him instantly, motioning towards a small tenement building. A small fire blazed in an alleyway and through the milling shadows I finally picked out the sentry leaning against the building in a way that he could see the Bridge, but still draw warmth from the fire. **

**Shrugging, I lit a smoke and kept walking, knowing that we'd be lucky if he hadn't caught our faces. Crossing the bridge was unpleasant. Crosswinds battered us and I could have sworn the damn thing moved underneath my feet. When we got to the other side, we ducked into a pub for a few moments to warm our hands, feet, and faces before starting out again.**

**The Manhattan Girls Lodging House wasn't bustling with activity when we got there. Most of the girls spent their time at Medda's or the Duane Street lodging house, so when we met up with Misery and Silver, only a couple of the girls were there. Tiggey leapt up and gave me a hug, shoving black hair over her shoulders as she berated me for not visiting. **

**Jazz sat at the large table that took up a portion of their lobby, a lantern at her elbow as she mended one of her long black skirts. She was singing quietly to herself in French, but paused to give me a friendly smile. Misery had been trading wisecracks with Hyena when Cinder and I came in, and whatever she shot at the slender dark eyed girl as she stood up made her burst out into her trademark laughter.**

**Misery smirked as she pulled her coat and derby hat on, sliding gloves over her small hands and tucking brass knuckles into her pocket. Silver came from upstairs, clucking her tongue over the fact that one of the smaller girls had a fever. **

"**D'you need to stay?" I asked, drawing her aside to speak to her. She gave me an absentminded smile and tucked a lock of her oddly colored hair behind an ear. Shaking her head, she threw on her coat and cap and I saw a knife go into her pocket before she was giving Jazz instructions about checking on the little girl and to hold down the fort.**

**The girls were all staring at Cinder, who kept hopping from foot to foot, her eyes downcast. I knew how uncomfortable she must feel, and I grimly decided that she deserved it. Finally, we left and made our way to Harlem, Misery poking fun at Silver, who had apparently reconciled with Flint, the Bronx leader. **

**I half-listened, letting myself be distracted by the minor soap operas of the street kids' lives, a smile slipping over my face every once in awhile. We almost weren't aware that we had crossed over into Harlem until I realized Misery had stopped ragging on Silver, and was all business as she scanned the shadows, sliding her brass knuckles on over her gloved fingers. **

**I laid a hand on the top of my shillelagh and drew deeply on a smoke out of nerves. I could see Silver put a hand into her pocket and briefly saw her billy club swinging at her side. Cinder was sweating, her face a ghastly white color that shown in the muted light from the street lamps. I reached out and squeezed her hand, and she shot me a grateful look.**

"**Do you see anyone we should know about?" Silver quietly spoke to Misery, who squinted into the darkness and shook her head. I saw an uneasy look pass over her narrow face and her jaw hardened.**

"**Doesn't mean someone ain't there," was all she uttered in reply. Nerves churning in my stomach we continued on until we reached the street where the Harlem Lodging House was on. **

"**Ladies what can I do for you?" All four of us jumped, except Cinder was the only one who made a squeaking noise of dismay as a voice assailed us from behind. I recognized the oily tones of the boy Jinx, who had brought me to see Cinder a while back. Distaste coated my mouth as he swaggered into the lamplight, a gap-toothed leer on his thin face. If he showed any surprise at seeing Cinder, he masked it very well.**

"**Jinx, I need to see Spook," Cinder said trying to convey her urgency. Jinx didn't look impressed; he just swung his head so that his lank red hair shook out of his eyes and winked at me. I bared my teeth at him, and he laughed, coming close enough that I could smell his body odor and I blanched, trying to keep my game face on. **

"**I don't answer to you, Cin," he said as he lit a cigarette and exhaled into my face. My eyes watered and stung, and I blinked furiously but didn't back down. Peering at me, he leaned close and wrapped a hand around the top of my shillelagh.**

"**Nice stick you got there, know how to use it?"**

"**Sure are you volunteering for me to try it out on?" Snickering, he finally stepped back and with a considering look at all four of us, finally moved his shoulders in a fluid shrug.**

"**It's freezing out, and I hate being cold so let's see what Spook decides to do with you dumb dames. Although I hope he lets you stay awhile," he tossed over his shoulder at me, grinning at my shudder. **

"**Why do I get all the dangerous ones?" I hissed to Misery who just laughed silently, shaking her head. Grasping Cinder's elbow in one hand, I propelled her forward as we walked the short distance to the lodging house. It was still in the same state of disrepair as it had been the last time, I noticed as we trudged up the stairs and went inside.**

**None of us felt comfortable enough to remove our coats or our weapons, so we stood in the front room, letting the meager warmth of the house seep into our bones. No one was playing in here tonight, the little boys and their marbles were probably back in the main room where the fireplace was. Idly I walked around the room, looking around at various attempts to make the space habitable. **

**A worn Bible sat opened on a small table next to a tiny bookshelf that held only a couple books all in bad shape. Someone had been sitting at a chair by one of the windows, carving a crudely shaped animal out of a stick of wood. I kept up my vague perusal of the room until a door slamming open shocked me out of reverie.**

"**I thought I told you not to come back here! Wasn't the one beating I gave you enough?" We all stared at the tiny spitfire that launched herself towards Cinder. If Sassy had been a few inches taller, her hair redder and face less pinched with bitterness she could have passed as Cinder's sister. At the moment, she had only one intention which was to obviously try a repeat performance of the fight that had caused Cinder to flee back to Brooklyn.**

**I didn't notice that Jinx had disappeared; he was probably the one that had alerted Sassy and the rest of our arrival. Glowering at Sassy, I stepped closer to Cinder and crossed my arms over my chest. Cinder had two bright red circles high on her cheekbones and her mouth was set in a straight, furious line. **

"**Where's Spook?" she demanded, her voice hoarse but gaining strength with each syllable she spoke.**

"**I need to talk to him; I have nothing to say to you Sassy." Sassy's muddy brown eyes sparked with rage then cooled to a sly light that I didn't like. **

"**Oh don't worry about him; he's right where I left him, in my bed asleep. You'll have to come back some other time when he's not…busy." Misery snorted and shook her head while I worriedly watched Cinder's reaction to this. She must have been told variations of this story for some time because she gave Sassy a chilly little smile.**

"**You could only dream of that happening Sassy. Now if you don't get him, I'll start screaming." Sassy grinned wickedly and advanced a couple of steps towards Cinder causing the rest of us to fall in and stay close.**

"**Screaming didn't help you the last time," she hissed angrily rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. Cinder laughed mirthlessly before shaking her head slowly.**

"**Of course it didn't, you beat me up in that old factory a few streets over. The question is, would you be brave enough to do it with Spook in the same house?"**

"**None of these guys has any loyalty to you; you're just the Boss's bed warmer for all we give a s hit."**

"**Maybe she is, but if you don't cut the horseshit, I'm going to make you give a reaaaaaaaaaal big shit." Misery's voice was flat and her eyes had gone from their normal steely-green to the color of a raging sea. After a staring contest between the two, the tall form of Spook filled the door frame. He and Cinder looked at each other for a long time before he came over and took her hand, sitting on the couch beside her.**

"**What makes you think ye got a right to come back here after what I've heard about you and Spot?" Cinder's voice was tiny and faltered a few times as she spoke quietly to Spook. I could see the young man's eyes go from a deep blue to violet as the color in his face heightened and he grew agitated.**

"**You expect me to believe this shite? Are ye daft woman or d'ye think I'm stupid?" Cinder glanced at all of us in the room and Spook finally seemed to notice we were there. With an imperious flick of his hand, Misery, Silver, and I found ourselves whisked into the back room where the main faction of Harlem's newsies were surrounding a medium sized woodstove. **

**Sassy fought tooth and nail to stay in the room, but Spook shoved her out carelessly and shut the door in her face. Stalking away, I heard her muttering to herself as she leaned against the doorjamb of the room we were in. **

**The Harlem newsies watched us with a mixture of curiosity, hostility, and disinterest. I saw the brown haired, cow licked boy that I had spoken to the other time I came here, and I offered him a tiny smile. He grinned back at me and I saw that he had lost his other front tooth giving him a jack-o-lantern look that was very endearing.**

**Eventually talk resumed in the room and the tension eased. A couple of rough looking girls came to say 'hi' to Silver who had once been a Harlem newsie herself. Some boys wandered over wanting to know what was going on, and Jinx showed up again, making me nervous as he picked a spot to lean against the wall near me.**

**Just as everyone began to relax a little, the door to the room Cinder and Spook had been in crashed open and Cinder came out sobbing brokenly. Silver went to her and put her arms around her glaring accusingly as Spook followed, casting his eyes about until he saw me. Bushy black eyebrows knitted together on his forehead as he balefully appraised me. Then to my surprise, he crooked a finger in my direction.**

"**Get in here; I've a few questions for ye before ye go."**

"**Me?" I stammered in replay as I half-raised myself out of the seat I had been sitting in. Spook's icy violet eyes found mine and he didn't say anything else. Swallowing hard I cast about frantically for the other girls and felt a hand press my shoulder before I stood up with legs of jelly and wobbled to the other room. **

**Slipping in ahead of Spook, I sat where he pointed and as I did I heard a lock click in the background. My head jerked up and I shot a look at Spook to see him just sliding a key into his pocket.**

**Well shit…everyday seemed to be my lucky day here.**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N—Here we go again!! Here are some shout outs. It's been awhile so I figured all of you readers were due. **

**NeverBeTamed – I'm glad you like cliffhangers, I love to write them so if any of my chapters have that effect I'm a happy camper. **

**Cloakedauthor21 – Glad you liked it, but you need your socks its cold out. :D**

**Elleestjen—Hopefully it stays interesting enough. I'm still tossing around ideas of an ending in my head so we'll see what happens. **

**Raeghann— Yay I'm so glad you've still been following this! I think you're an amazing writer so your input is welcome and appreciated. I'm happy that I've managed to stick to the time period as well as I can. I slip up sometimes and want to have someone use slang that they shouldn't so it's hard but I try. Update your stories now, y'hear?**

**Breezy233—I'm so glad you like this story and have been sticking with it. I love Spot too but don't let him hear that, he'll get an even bigger ego. Your favorite chapter is mine as well!!! I wrote it and read it and was all *swoon*. Maybe I should start writing romance novels hah.**

**Dimonah Tralon-- *twirls fake mustache and laughs evilly, swirling a black cape up to hide her face* I can't make any promises, but it's inevitable that Spot is gonna kill Riot when he finds out anyways, because that's just how they are. I love those types of relationships where most of the time you just wanna kill 'em but then they go and do something sweet to get out of it. Men…*snorts***

**And awaaaaaaaaay we go! –A/N**

**"Uhm is there a reason why you feel the need to lock the door?" Spook just stuck the key into a pocket and pointed at a chair. I sat obediently, not wanting to piss him off even more. There was something a little overly aggressive about him no matter what Cinder said. **

**"I locked the door so we won't be interrupted by people because I want you to tell me what's really going on" I think my eyebrows must have climbed to the top of my forehead as I stared at him in shock. Shuffling my feet and twining my fingers, I gazed at my hands, seriously contemplating what I should say. **

**"I think Cinder told you the gist of it" was all I could come up with. Spook glowered at me, his violet eyes darkening and his face growing red with anger. I saw his jaw muscles bunch and he spoke through clenched teeth.**

**"There is no way that kid is mine, she left me and took up with that petty hoodlum in Brooklyn. And you think that I am gonna just roll over and take her back?"**

**"You did just a little while ago, why not now?"**

**"Cuz now she's knocked up and I'm not the father!"**

"**And how do you know that? Can you do math at all?" Spook gave me a perplexed look and I almost laughed…almost. A sudden banging on the door made us both jump although I jumped higher than Spook. Sassy's angry voice demanded that she be let in and I gave Spook a shrewd look.**

**"What do you care what Cinder's done, when you've been sleeping with Sassy? Do you know what that does to a girl, knowing that her bully kicked her out of her own turf and then took her place in her boyfriend's bed?"**

**"Her bully, what do you mean?"**

**"You NEVER had ANY idea that the reason Cinder left was because Sassy MADE her?" Spook tilted his head to one side, a thoughtful look on his narrow face. We both kept ignoring the thuds and shouts from outside the room. I never took my gaze off of Spook's face, hoping that he would see my sincerity. This whole mess was getting thicker and murkier the deeper I waded into it. **

"**I thought she left because she didn't want to be around me anymore. But then I managed to convince her to come home just to have her run off again. I never had any idea that Sassy was bothering her, she never told me. None of the other girls ever said anything either." I snorted and shook my head at him, wagging a finger in exasperation. **

**"Do you really think that the girls here are going to say much of anything at all? This lodging house isn't exactly female friendly let's put it that way. Besides, if Sassy managed to get rid of the boss's girl and took her place you really think they're going to act up against that? God boys are so dumb!" Spook leapt to his feet and came within an inch of my face, bending down so that I could see up his nose, a thought that tickled me to no end even though I was scared.**

**"SHE left ME and went to Brooklyn and started going around with another boy. You think that I'm going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that I'm here alone? I did what she did to prove to her that if she could I could."**

**"No," I said coldly "You did it to hurt her and nothing more because you yourself were hurt." Spook backed off and sat down with a sigh, his shoulder's slumping. **

**"I think you need to look back when the last time she was here and then look at now and count the days in between. She's a few weeks along, and she was here a few weeks ago. So all I have to say to you is that you need to do some serious thinking about that and what you want to do about it, because she needs you right now. Fine, she went with Spot, but you went with Sassy so I'd say you're even." I took a deep breath and fell silent after the mini tirade I had just delivered. Spook dropped his head into his hands and rubbed his face hard before looking back up at me. His eyes were older than they should have been and he seemed tired.**

**"Just…Make her go away for now, I need to think about all of this and I need to talk to some of my newsies about what happens when I'm not around. But…just take her away…I'll be in touch." We both stood up and he unlocked the door, Sassy just about falling ass over tea kettle when he swung the door open. Righting herself, she gave Cinder a look of venomous satisfaction as I took Cinder's elbow and started guiding her away.**

**"What happened? Why won't he talk to me, why won't he believe me? Spook....SPOOK!" She cried in anguish as we left the lodging house. Fresh tears fell from her swollen eyes as we made our way out of Harlem and back towards Brooklyn. I felt like I was guiding a zombie because she just plodded along, her tears fading to sniffles every few minutes. **

**"Well that's just fucking brilliant isn't it?" Misery's disgusted words echoed in the dark. I glanced over at her and she looked at me expectantly. **

**"I tried, okay? I really, really tried…he said he needed time to think."**

**"Yah well it would have gone a lot smoother if I had just cut up that dumb broad"**

**"Misery as always, your desire to do others harm is so endearing" Silver's dry tone made Misery wince but she grinned cheekily at her leader after a few seconds. **

**"Listen, Cinder we'll talk more but right now we need to get back, Spot's probably smacking people's heads together wondering where we are, plus it's so cold that if I was a boy I'd be missing some parts." Cinder drew in a sharp breath and then laughed a shocked look on her pale face. We left the other two girls off in Manhattan, stopping to warm ourselves in the lodging house briefly before making our way to Brooklyn. **

**We hopped onto the back of a trolley that took us over the Brooklyn Bridge and we dropped ourselves off once we made it past the sentry point. I knew that there was not a chance in Hell that we would get back without anyone noticing but we could try anyways. I grabbed Cinder and pulled her into a pub as we walked by it, and we sat in the back away from the crowds of people.**

**Lighting a cigarette, I spat out flecks of tobacco and paper and moodily watched the smoke curl up and disappear. Neither of us said anything for a while, both of us thinking. I ordered a pint just so we wouldn't get kicked out, but I didn't feel like drinking. The crowd here was raucous and mostly male so I knew it wasn't a good idea for us to stay here long but I felt that it was the best place to speak to Cinder.**

**"What do you want to do?" Cinder's blue eyes flickered up at me before she began picking at a lump of wax from the candle on our table. **

**"I…I want to be with Spook but if he doesn't believe me, he won't want me. Not if he thinks the baby is Spot's. Did he say anything to you?" I inhaled a drag of smoke and let it out slowly.**

**"He said that he needed to talk to his newsies and see if Sassy really was as horrid to you as you said she was. He also said that he needed time to think over what was going on, I mean you hit him with a lot y'know coming in there and saying that he was going to be a father." Cinder nodded her face pinched and miserable. Then she brightened a little bit and took a sip of the glass of ale.**

**"Well the other girls will tell him the truth…They don't like Sassy either but it bothers me that he can't just believe me." **

**"Look you left because of Sassy and he thought it was because of him. No one spoke up and defended you so he let Sassy comfort him just like you went to Brooklyn and let Spot comfort you. I don't know why they didn't help you in Harlem and maybe that's an important piece of this because are you going to raise a baby around people who wouldn't even speak up in your defense? You gotta lot to think about and so does he so I say just stay calm and let things happen as they happen."**

**Cinder blinked and tucked a strand of her red hair behind an ear. She pursed her lips and contemplated what I said for a minute before nodding and then giving me a sad smile. Putting out a tentative hand, she touched my arm and then squeezed it briefly.**

**"I wish I had come to you sooner Riot…You're a lot different from the other girls and I really don't deserve your kindness after standing between you and Spot." I was glad the room was dimly lit for I knew my cheeks were bright pink as I awkwardly patted her hand back and shrugged, taking a huge swallow of the ale.**

**"Hey now I'm just doing what any other person would do…Sheesh you might even say I was too nosey for my own good, don't make me out to be a saint." Cinder laughed and stood up, shrugging into her coat. I followed suit, suddenly tired and wanting to go back to the house.**

**"True, you are very nosey but you listen too and that's important." Together we walked outside and began to head back to the lodging house. It was so cold that it stole your breath away and we made it home in record time, scraping our boots on the edge of the stoop before heading inside. **

**The night was just winding down, and as we entered the lobby only a few people were still awake. Bookworm was finishing a Brother's Grimm story, sitting on the couch surrounded by wide-eyed boys. I knew there would be a couple of nightmares had tonight and shook my head. Cinder scribbled her name into the ledger and I put mine after hers. She inclined her head with a slight smile at me and began walking up the stairs. **

**"So where have you been?"**

**"GAH! Don't DO that!" Spot's voice had come from right behind me and I whirled around, a hand on my chest willing my heart to not leap out and fall on the floor. He stood with his arms crossed, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, an ashen eyebrow raised expectantly at me. I decided to play dumb and just gave him a shrug and began unbuttoning the Army coat I wore. It had difficult buttons and I concentrated on that instead of the impatient growling noise that was coming from the boy in front of me. **

**"Where were you?" Spot moved behind me again and grabbing the shoulders of the coat, yanked it off of me. Tossing it onto the chair behind the desk that the ledger was on, he grabbed my upper arm and propelled me towards the kitchen. There wasn't a Hell of a lot of privacy to be had living in such close quarters but the kitchen seemed to be the easiest place. Once we plowed through the door and he stopped, I ripped my arm out of his grasp and rubbed it.**

**"That fucking hurt you bastard" I grated at him, pushing my sleeve up to see the marks. He looked ashamed for half a second before raising his eyebrows at me.**

**"My, my Riot what a mouth you have."**

**"Better fucking believe it." I snarled as I pinched his arm hard. He yelped and jumped back an incredulous look on his face, blue eyes glinting dangerously. I sat down at the small table, still rubbing my arm with a defiant look on my face.**

**"How do you like it?" I asked him as he stood there probably debating on whether to slap me or laugh. I could see the transfer of emotions cross his face and it was an interesting sight to behold. He settled on dropping into the chair next to me, his hands coming to rest on the table in fists, twitching slightly.**

**"One more time, Riot…where were you?"**

**"Why?"**

**"BECAUSE I WAS WORRIED DAMN YOU" I winced at the roar of his words and gave him a goofy smile.**

**"You were?" He pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes momentarily before opening them again, his mouth quirking up slightly. I scooted my chair closer to him and nudged him with my elbow.**

**"You're cute when you're angry…gimme your arm, the one that I pinched." He offered it to me warily, a questioning look in his eyes. I kissed the dark red spot on his forearm and grinned at his expression.**

**"Now it won't hurt anymore…didn't anyone ever kiss your boo-boo's before?"**

**"No, nobody ever did that before" he said darkly before catching my hand in his own and kissing my upper arm in response. **

**"Well there's a first time for everything," I said to him my voice thick. It brought tears to my eyes at the thought of these kids growing up without someone caring whether they lived or died. It just wasn't fair, but then again that was reality. **

**I laid my head on Spot's shoulder and he rested his cheek on the top of my head. The door to the kitchen opened and someone came in then left with a hastily muttered apology but we didn't move. I was happy to just sit there with this boy and let my mind wander. But of course, Spot being Spot, he couldn't let things go as easily as I.**

**"So where were you?" Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes tight and answered him bracing for the ruckus that was going to follow.**

**"Harlem, okay? I went to Harlem"**


	26. Chapter 26

**AAAH!! Thanks guys for pointing out that I reposted chapter twenty. That's what happens when you try to post and you're half awake. ::sheepish smile::**

A/N – Okay there are a few things I'd like to say here. One is that I'm so angry with FFnet because I also write stories under two other names here, Risk_23, (or is it Risk-23?) and MiseryLovesCompany and I can't remember the password to sign onto MiseryLovesCompany and since I haven't touched any of those stories since like '04, I know the email account is gone and I can't remember it either. I've sent a few emails to support and no response which irks me because I've written updates to a couple of those stories and I want to post them. So herein lies my question, do any of you think I would get in trouble if I rewrote the stories and published them under this name, maybe polishing them up but keeping the same titles? Lemme know what you think.

Also I apologize for all the cliffies but I love writing them and I love this story and I'll be sad when it ends. – A/N

I felt Spot stiffen and closed my eyes, waiting for the anger and yelling but he just exhaled a big breath and rolled his shoulders. I heard the flare of a match and smelled the sulfur and knew he was lighting a cigarette. We sat there in an uncomfortable silence, my cheek pressed against the rough fabric of his shirt, one hand gripping the front of his suspenders.

"Why did you go to Harlem?" His question was asked in a quiet voice which I knew meant he wasn't happy and could hear the struggle in his voice to keep calm. Pushing myself away from him, I let go of his suspender and stood up suddenly restless. What could I tell him but the truth other than 'Gee I don't know Spot, we just happened to go for no reason?' Flipping a chair around backwards, I sat and rested my arms on the top back rung and lowered my head into the circle of space between my body and arms.

"Cinder asked me to speak to Spook to her," I muttered so softly that Spot had to ask me to repeat myself so he could hear. Spot snorted in disbelief, wisps of smoke coming out of his nostrils as he looked at me askance. I was peeking over my arms at him, ready for the explosion but not prepared for the questioning look that crossed his face.

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Of course I do, why the Hell wouldn't you?" Spot's eyes were shadowed in the dim light of the gas lamp on the table that sputtered when a draft hit it. The shapes that jumped across his lean face made him look angry, then tired all in a flare of light. We stared at each other for a minute, listening to the sounds of the other kids in the lobby and echoing up the staircase as they went upstairs. I could hear Bookworm calmly explaining to Hide that the witch from the house made of gingerbread was not living underneath his bunk and would not try to cook him and Seek while they slept and couldn't keep a smile from flitting across my face.

"I can't get over the fact that you and Cinder are suddenly friends. What happened to change your mind about her?" I narrowed my eyes and jutted out my chin a little. I honestly didn't know if Cinder wanted Spot to know that she was going to have a child. Spot would probably try to do something noble like claim it was his and that would just make things even messier.

"She apologized to me and we had a serious talk about what's going on with her and Spook and I thought I could help." Spot sighed and stubbed his cigarette out in frustration. Scrubbing a hand through his hair, he held out his arms wide, shrugging his shoulders in an incredulous air.

"What the Hell am I going to do with you? You are way too nosey for your own good, Riot and it's going to end badly. Just stay the Hell out of Harlem, okay? Nothing worthwhile is going to come out of you going to Harlem and poking around for Cinder's benefit. Mark my words, Riot you're just setting yourself up." Now I was bristling with indignant fury at the idea that I was 'nosey'.

"So it's okay for me to go spy on her and report back to you when you're all lovesick but not when it's to help her?"

"That about sums it up"

"Well that's just shitty, your Highness…real shitty. Excuse me but it's time for me to get my nosey ass to bed." I shoved my chair away from me and went to pass Spot, who just shot out a hand and trapped my wrist in a firm grip. Yanking me back, I stumbled against the table and threw a hand out to steady myself, slapping it against Spot's chest as I teetered before settling on my heels.

"We're not done talking," Spot said looking at me in a way I couldn't decipher. Pushing against him with my free hand, I strained to tear myself out of his grasp but he was holding me too tightly. I began to feel my chest tighten in something akin to panic as my fight or flight instincts kicked in. Raising a hand in a swift motion, I went to slap at Spot's face in an attempt to get him to let me go, but he just trapped my other hand and I tumbled into him, upsetting his chair.

We fell backwards taking the chair with us, and I landed on Spot, driving an elbow into his ribs on accident. He grunted but didn't release me. I rolled, trying to get back onto my feet, but he was already standing, pulling me with him. Crossing my arms over my chest, he trapped me neatly, standing behind me.

"Riot," he huffed in my ear "Stop fighting me, I'm not trying to hurt you but you're going to get hurt if you keep being foolish."

"FOOLISH? I'm sorry YOU try being female and having some jackass manhandle you and see how YOU like it," I snapped back. I felt Spot startle behind me, and he released my arms, only to wrap his own around my waist. I strained against his arms, angling my body so that I wasn't touching his which was damn near impossible.

"I'm sorry Riot; I really just want to talk to you. Don't go to bed mad at me…please." The fight evaporated from me at the words he spoke quietly in my ear. I relaxed my muscles and stopped trying to wrestle control away from him. Folding my arms, I waited silently for him to talk. He let go of me with one arm and righted the overturned chair, sitting down in it once more and pulling me onto his lap. I sat rigidly until he slid a hand under my hair and kneaded the tense muscles of my neck.

"I forget how little you are sometimes," he murmured absently as I bit the inside of my cheek to stifle a chuckle. 'I' was little? Who was he kidding? But my feet didn't touch the floor and I was at least smaller than him.

"Then I see you toe to toe with Jinx at Medda's or pinned up against a wall by Swagger, and imagining you waltzing into God knows what in Harlem, a borough not friendly with our own at the moment may I remind you, and that's when it hits me how small you are, and how female."

"Uhm thanks, I think." I felt Spot's chest rumble with laughter.

"Don't get me wrong, I know you're a scrapper and I swear half the time you act like you think you're a boy, and it didn't really hit me how badly you scare the shit outta me when you do that. Don't you get it? You seem to think nothing can hurt you, and I know we've had this discussion before but damnit Riot I can't watch you all the time to make sure you're okay."

"Spot, I never expected you to take care of me, I can take care of myself."

"Acting like an idiot is not taking care of yourself, Riot. I know you come from the country and all but I swear have you gained no city smarts at ALL?"

"I guess not," I sniffed haughtily at his assessment of my apparent lack of street skills.

"All I'm trying to say is that I don't want you to get hurt."

"Well Jesus H. Christ you coulda just said that and saved us all this trouble," I shot back at him. Taking my chin in his hand, he gently turned my face up to his and pressed his lips against mine. I wasn't in the mood but he was persistent and skilled at what he was doing and before long I found my arms around his neck, fingers in his hair. We didn't come up for air until I felt a draft and looked down, realizing that he had gotten some of the buttons of my shirt open. Shooting to my feet with a yelp, I swatted at him as my face turned red in mortification.

"You lecher!" I cried, holding my shirt together and retreating towards the door. Spot at once was instantly apologetic, but I could detect him hiding a smile as he held out placating hands. Finally he cocked his head and gave me a crooked smile that made my guts tighten.

"A guy's gotta try," he said laughing as he helpfully fussed with my buttons, seemingly fastening them and unfastening different ones at the same time. Succumbing to a fit of giggles, I pushed him away and got my clothes back into order. There was something so endearing about his clever tricks that weren't clever at all that made it hard for me to be angry with him.

Cupping the sides of my face with his hands, he tugged lightly on my hair as he leaned his forehead against my own. These hidden moments of gentleness that was so unlike his normal arrogant, overbearing self was part of the reason I realized I was crazy about him. His sharpness and tough demeanor appealed to me as much as his fast hands and warm embraces.

"Do me a favor tomorrow, Riot," Spot muttered as he kissed me thoroughly before opening the kitchen door and taking my hand, lead me into the now dark lobby and towards the staircase.

"What's that?"

Looking over his shoulder, a lock of hair falling into one laughing eye, he winked at me as we quietly made our way upstairs.

"Don't get into any trouble tomorrow okay, for my sake?" Giving my bottom a firm pat, he left me at the door to the girl's room and walked down the hall chuckling quietly to himself.

"Bones found in school yard in Queens, read all about it!" I sold five papers in rapid succession and beat a hasty get away before the readers found out that the bones came from a tannery adjacent to the school. Slipping through a gap in a fence, I ducked under a wash line that snapped empty in the stiff breeze. Coming upon Cinder at her spot, we walked in companionable silence until she began chattering about Christmas. I felt dread well up in my stomach but I forced a cheery smile onto my face and listened to her ramble on about putting some money together with the other girls to buy the younger kids candy.

I knew that Duck's mom knit everyone socks and scarves every year and there would be another attempt at a feast like we had done for Thanksgiving. There would be no selling, and the kids took advantage of the day to go to whatever families or sweethearts they had to celebrate. Bookworm organized games and told stories for the children who had no family, and was assisted by Duck, Bells and Sprite. I wasn't sure how I would feel waking up Christmas morning and not be around my own family, with a tree full of presents from guilty parents who were busy with their own lives.

It wasn't that I would miss the presents. I could give a damn about that side of Christmas, and I hated shopping for people with a passion. Normally I drew pictures for my family and friends and I had toyed with the idea of drawing something for Spot, but I had no idea what would appeal to him in that sense. I had gotten small knickknacks for the girls and cigars for some of the boys. As much as I hated to encourage it, I thought that I would get Spot a flask or something along those lines.

"Wouldn't it be nice if you found your sister for Christmas?" I was jerked back to reality by Cinder's question and I stared at her blankly. It took a full minute for my brain to process her question and I stammered a reply. My mind reeled as I tried to remember the parameters of the lie I had spun that day on the docks. Nodding with what I hoped was a passing attempt at yearning on my face; I scuffed my toe on the ground.

"Gee that would be something…but I haven't seen a trace of her so far so I'm not holding my breath."

"I could ask Spot to help, y'know tell him that's what you want for Christmas. I mean it's the least I could do since you've helped me."

"Honestly Cinder I'd rather have a new pocket knife or something." Cinder gave me such an odd look that I back pedaled.

"Since you know…It would be so hard for anyone to try to find her. I think she's probably moved on from the city and I wouldn't want to make a fuss over a lost cause." Cinder seemed satisfied with that answer and I silently sent a brief prayer of thanks to the Big Dude upstairs. She went on to ask me my opinion of baby names and I relaxed because that was something I could get into. No matter how hard I tried, I kept thinking about Christmas and New Years. I couldn't let myself get swept away; there was still a job to be done, something to be prevented.

As we neared the lodging house for the midday break, I noticed a white box on the front stoop. Bending over, Cinder and I examined it closely. Cinder smiled in delight when she saw her name on a tag fastened around the top in thick butcher's string. Her nimble fingers slid over the knot holding the rope around the box pulling here and pushing there. I felt a nagging sense of unease as she slid the top of the box open and was rewarded with Cinder's ragged scream.

(A/N- Individual shout outs next chapter, really wanted to get this out.)


	27. Chapter 27

A/N- As promised, shout outs!

**CHAP.25**—

ELYSE – Spot is definitely meant to be dangerous in his own right, but I don't think I'd ever write him intentionally hurting Riot.

CLOAKEDAUTHOR21—You're welcome! You're also very lucky it's warm enough that you don't need your socks. It's ten degrees here right now.

DIMONAH TRALON – Don't I *always* seem to end the chapters in the worst spots possible? *laughs evilly* I'm glad that you liked Bookworm in this chapter; I tend to worry that I don't do other people's OC's justice.

GEEK'D – Yay new reviewer!! *throws confetti* I'm so glad you like it, thanks for the kind words it's very, very appreciated.

QUIETONE364 – Thank you so much, I hope you continue to enjoy it.

ELLEESTJENN – I know, I'm trying REALLY hard to keep up a steady pace with the updates. *crosses fingers*

RAEGHANN – I'm so glad you like it, I enjoy writing the back and forth between Spot and Riot the best 'cuz I love seeing a girl get the best of Spot too *grin*. I HATE hitting a wall when I'm working on a story. Usually when that happens I don't update for awhile because I'm constantly going over the plot in my head and reading previous chapters repeatedly to grab new angles. I like the newer TTH, but I loved the old one too. As for your other stories get crackin' girl 'cuz they're all great as well.

ETOILEBRILLIANT – Welcome back, nice to see your name again! Aww but the sooner the craziness is resolved means the sooner the story is over…although yes it has to happen at some point ;D

**CHAP.26**--

DIMONAH TRALON -- *turns red* my bad, I messed that up. The real chapter 26 is up and here's another one

ELLEESTJENN – Don't be confused, I reposted an old chapter instead of the new one. I fixed it though so it should be all set.

ELYSE – I liked the argument and making up between Spot and Riot too. *groans* yeah I wasn't too subtle about what might be in the box was I? Whatever it is, I doubt that it's a necklace or something pretty like that, hehehe

"Jesus Christ!" Cinder screeched in horror and threw the box away from her, scooting backwards in her haste to get as far from it as she could. A large sewer rat leapt out and snarling viciously in her direction, scuttled into a nearby alley. Shaken, we stared at each other and I discreetly checked to see if I had wet my pants before stooping to pick up the overturned box. As nasty as the rat had been, it didn't prepare me for what I found lying on the ground near the box.

Bile crept up my throat as I picked up a child's rag doll, dressed as a newsie, head topped with red yarn for hair and blue buttons for eyes. What made me nauseous however was the fact that it had cloth stuffed into the shirt front to simulate a belly, and there was a small knife thrust deep into the mound of fabric. Cinder promptly vomited as she caught sight of what I held.

"What the fuck?" I held the doll out at arms length and eyed it warily trying to process the malicious delivery.

"Sassy" Cinder said without looking up at me from where she crouched on the ground, apparently not trusting the strength of her legs should she try to stand. I nodded mutely and scanned the immediate layout of nearby buildings wondering if the spiteful girl was hidden somewhere nearby watching and gloating. Helping Cinder rise to her feet, I tucked the doll into my coat pocket and checked to make sure the rat was gone. Shuddering, I got Cinder into the house and deposited her upstairs into her cot. There was no way the girl was going to sell the afternoon edition; she was white as the sheet I covered her with.

"What I want to know is…How did she manage to touch that huge rat? It was GIGANTIC!" Cinder cracked a smile and giggled slightly which was the response I was hoping for. I knew it was the doll that had gotten her so shaken up and I didn't blame her. Sassy was obviously a few beers short of a six pack to go out hunting rats and making evil little deliveries. I began to wonder about her involvement in everything. I knew that there were some people who would do just about anything to get rid of rivals but why kill Spot? And Dead Spot had been clear in saying that he had been shot by Spook.

So what part did Sassy play in Spot's murder? It was very close to New Years and I was stuck pondering the twists and turns that I hadn't imagined would occur when I first agreed to this insanity. Going downstairs into the lobby, I put a hand into my pocket and felt the doll. What sort of nightmare was this and when would I wake up? There had been so many times I had previously brooded over whether or not this was just a bad dream and every morning I woke up to the scratchy thin blankets wrapped around my nose, and snores of my roommates it blew my mind.

Who went through a mirror and ended up in turn of the twentieth century New York? I so badly wanted someone to talk to about this madness but I knew if I tried that I would end up in an asylum, and from paying attention in history class I knew that asylum's were not safe places to be in the time I was in. Frowning, I went out into the cold and trudged towards the Distribution Center. Lighting a cigarette, I flicked the match away from me with a savage motion. 'What a fucking mess you've gotten yourself into', I thought bitterly as I stepped over the legs of a man sitting up against the stoop of a tenement. The man just looked at me blearily with unfocused eyes and saluted me with a bottle two thirds of the way empty of a dark amber liquid.

Stuck in my thoughts I bought my afternoon papers and went back onto the streets without really talking to anyone. I didn't start to lighten up until I sold my last paper and started heading back to the lodging house. It was bitterly cold and I pulled my cap down tighter over my head. I usually really didn't mind selling papers, it was something to do and I enjoyed people watching. But I wanted to spend some time going over my plan for the upcoming holidays. Kicking at a stone I started humming to myself aimlessly.

"If I ever leave this world alive, I'll thank ya for the things you did in my life. If I ever leave this world alive, I'll come back down and sit beside your feet tonight." Twirling around I side stepped a man carrying a small barrel on his shoulder and broke into a grin as I neared the lodging house and saw Emotions and Racetrack sitting on the front steps. They greeted me warmly and I listened to Race tell some amusing anecdote that had both Emotions and I laughing so hard we cried.

I paused to wipe tears off of my cheeks and looking over, saw Spot, Rooster, Tips, Bookworm, Sprite and Duck walking up the sidewalk. My heart skittered in my chest at the sight of Spot and I frowned, pressing a hand onto my chest. Damn feelings were going to be the death of me. Still I couldn't stop the goofy smile from stretching across my face and I ducked my head to light a cigarette but was rewarded when I looked back up to see a grin on Spot's face as he bounded up to where I sat. Crowding me over on the step I perched on, he slung an arm around my shoulders and kissed me 'hello'. The girls all had smiles as they looked at us, and the boys hid smirks behind dirty hands.

I didn't care, I was happy to sit there next to Spot and talk to my friends. Talk turned to Christmas and the party at Medda's and I stuck a hand into my pocket once more to finger the crudely made doll. It was hard to remember sometimes that I was here for a reason and that all of this would end when it was done. I didn't believe for a second that I would end up staying here in the past, it just didn't seem plausible. I still wasn't sure where I wanted to end up to tell the truth. I loved my mom and dad, but that's all that held me in the future. I couldn't be sure who cared about me enough for me to get pulled into the past for good. Sure I knew that I had made friends and that Spot had feelings for me, but it had to be stronger than my parent's love and what could be stronger than that?

"Stop thinking so hard," Spot linked his fingers through mine and kissed my knuckles. I blinked at him and felt tears pricking the corners of my eyes. This would all be hard to forget when it was over that was for sure.

"Hey, hey what's the matter?" Spot spoke into my ear as he noticed the waterworks threatening to burst. I shook my head and smiled thinly at him. His eyes bore into my own searching to see if he could discern what the problem was. A frown creased his forehead when I wiped my nose on my sleeve and choked out a laugh.

"Really, I'm okay I'm just thinking too hard."

"About what?" he asked as he skimmed a thumb over my cheek and caught a tear that had escaped. The sun broke out of the clouds and the kids all cried out in happiness for it had been overcast for nearly a week. I lifted my face to the warmth and let it seep into my bones, my eyes clamped shut.

"Just thinking about what the future holds" I responded finally, laying my head on Spot's shoulder. He snorted and shook his head in affectionate dismay.

"Worrying about what's going to happen is useless unless you can do something about it. Otherwise just sit back and enjoy the ride." I laughed at Spot's advice and flipped my cigarette into a pile of slush on the sidewalk. Racetrack flicked the stub of his cigar and crowed in triumph when it went an inch further than mine.

"Showoff," I shot at him, looking up and over where he smirked at me, his dark eyes laughing.

"Damn straight" he said getting up and grabbing Emotions' hand they walked off down the street together. The rest of the group dispersed going their own ways, most heading inside the lodging house. Spot and I continued to sit and absorb the warmth for as long as our butts could stand the stones of the stairs.

Later we lay stretched out on Spot's mattress, he on his back with one arm behind his head, the other encircling me as I drowsily used his chest as a pillow. We were fully clothed except for our boots, a thin quilt draped over us. I wasn't going to fight the urge to be with him anymore, it took up too much energy and I didn't care what anyone thought either. That didn't mean I was going to sleep with him at the drop of a hat but I found that I didn't bat an eye at the idea of spending time alone with him. I knew that it was forward of a girl my age to be just laying in bed with a boy even though we weren't doing anything in this day and age but as long as it didn't bother me I wasn't going to worry. Besides the way things were going I figured I should get as much alone time in with Spot as I could for I would miss him terribly.

I yawned and wrapped an arm around his waist, burying my head deeper into the fabric of his shirt as I got comfortable. My feet ached after walking all day and I was glad to be off of them and getting warm. Spot stroked a hand through my hair and my eyes closed in pleasure.

"So what do you want for Christmas?" His question made my eyes snap open and I shook my head.

"Nothing, don't worry about that." His hand stopped its progress half-way through my hair and he tugged on the ends until I shifted my position so that I was looking up at him, cupping my chin in a hand on his chest. Blue eyes regarded me incredulously and I squirmed under their scrutiny.

"You don't really expect me to believe that do you? All broads want presents it's a God given fact." I stiffened and pursed my lips at him.

"Well I don't care about presents and I'm not all broads so there ya go." Spot's eyes went so solemn that I knew he was hiding amusement, but he couldn't quite keep it out of his voice.

"So if I don't get you anything you won't get mad at me? Yeah right, I'll believe it when I see it." Slapping a hand onto his chest I used it as leverage and lifted myself up, getting positioned to stand up. Spot yanked on me and caused me to wobble and end up sitting cross-legged next to him.

"Well you better believe it because that's what is gonna happen. I don't want anything from you," I spat at him. He folded his hands across his stomach, watching me with a guarded expression on his face.

"Why do you always have to pick fights with me when we're getting along just fine?"

"Because you're pretty when you're angry," I burst into laughter and poked his side sharply.

"HAH! Nice try, Romeo but I meant what I said. I don't want anything from you so revise your thinking when it comes to me."

"Don't you?"

I paused, my eyebrows drawn together in confusion at what he'd just said. Spot lay there with such a calm look on his face that I wanted to smack him but I refrained.

"Don't I what?"

"Don't you want anything from me?"

"Are we still talking about Christmas?" I was playing stupid because I knew that he expected me to say that I wanted him to be mine, true to me and no one else. I wanted to say it, to demand it but I couldn't because not only was I fairly sure that he thought girls like that were tiresome, but I wasn't sure if I wanted things to be that serious. Sure I didn't want him throwing himself at any other girls but that was a choice he was going to have to make without me begging or asking him to.

"No dummy, we're talking about in general." A laugh escaping him as he spoke took the sting out of the insult. I leaned back against the wall and fiddled with a hole on the toe of one of my socks.

"I want whatever you're willing and able to give and I won't ask for anything more than that."

"That sounds reasonable."

"I'd like to think I'm a fairly reasonable person," I said with a haughty sniff.

"Riot," this time he couldn't hide the amusement that lit up his eyes "You are one of the most reasonable girls I have ever met but that doesn't change the fact that you're difficult as Hell."

"Take that back, I am not" I dug my fingers into his sides and was rewarded when he violently twisted to get away from my ticklish advances. Bucking like mad, he ended up in a sitting position with my hands captured in his own. Pulling me onto his lap, he retaliated by kissing me breathless and we didn't speak for a few moments.

"All right, I take it back."

"Good," I said poker faced and tried to act injured.

"You're very unreasonable."

"Hey!" I sputtered in mock indignation but couldn't hold onto it long enough and giggled finally. If nothing else I couldn't deny the fact that I had fun with Spot. I usually didn't give guys a second thought if they couldn't verbally spar with me. There were few requirements that I had when checking a guy out but humor and wit were on the top of my list. Luckily for me Spot had both in spades and it didn't help that he was damn cute too. Watching him now, as he lit a candle to combat the lengthening shadows in his small room, the sputtering glow making his hair appear golden and highlighting the bone structure of his face I realized that he wasn't just cute he was downright handsome.

Standing up, I went to hang our coats up where they had been dumped unceremoniously on the floor when we had come into his room. Putting them on the hooks, I turned around and felt my stomach constrict when I saw Spot bend over and pick up the ill-wish doll that had fallen out of my pocket and onto the floor. Turning it over in his hands to examine it, he lit a cigarette and studied it for a minute before looking up at me through his cigarette smoke, eyes curious.

"What the Hell is this, ain't much of a kid's toy is it?"

"Ah, well no, no it isn't. I found it lying around and didn't want any of the younger kids to see it…"

"Why is it dressed like one of us? Where did you say you found this?"

"Oh just, you know, lying around…"

"It has long hair so it's supposed to be a girl, but the only red-headed girl around here is Cinder. Why does it have a knife stuck into the stomach? Why is the stomach so big, it's not like Cinder is pregnant or anything." I found myself struck speechless by how quickly his minds put things together. Not that I would have ever accused Spot of being slow but was shocked at how fast the wheels in his head were turning.

"She would have told me if she was pregnant, wouldn't she have? Especially if it was mine, I mean she'd have to tell me. And the knife, if she is pregnant that's just sick. Who's threatening one of my newsies Riot? What do you know about this?" 'Great' I thought to myself as I dropped into the rickety chair that sat at Spot's small writing table. The last thing I had expected to do was explain what Cinder had told me in confidence and I sent up a quick prayer that she wouldn't get too upset that I was going to spill the beans, but I also hoped that Spot wouldn't rip into me too bad when he found out what we'd been holding back. I lit my own cigarette and settled back to begin story time.


	28. Chapter 28

By the time I finished talking, my throat was parched and my lips dry. The light in the room had all but disappeared only the rays of Spot's kerosene lamp flickered over the walls and our faces. Spot was sitting on the edge of his mattress, hunched over the cigarette he was smoking as if there was a stiff wind that might blow it away.

Spying a half empty beer bottle, I drained it and set it on the floor after wiping my mouth on my sleeve. I caught the smell of smoke and other odors as the fabric passed underneath my nose. Making a face, I knew it was time to send these rags to the wash. My stomach kept flipping over as I waited for a response from Spot.

He had taken his cap off and flung it into a corner of the room, running his hands threw his ash blonde hair until it practically stood on end which was no small feat. There was an overflowing ceramic mug that he was using as an ashtray at his feet. Stuffing the cigarette into it he stood abruptly, hooking his thumbs into the edges of his suspenders and yanking them down.

I could tell he was angry by the jerky motions he was making and the sullen set to his chin and mouth. There was probably nothing I could do to distract him at this point. He sat on the edge of the windowsill and looked out on the darkened streets of Brooklyn.

"She's fucking pregnant…I can't believe she's pregnant."

"It's not yours Spot" I said and tried laying a hand on his arm. He shook it off and threw me an agonized glower.

"Do you know for sure or is she just saying that?" I felt heat flood my face and make my skin prickle. Cinder had told me that she and Spot hadn't been intimate since her return and that she and Spook most definitely had.

"I'm fairly sure that if she's telling the truth this happened when she was gone since you two haven't…erm…well…since she came back." Spot's face relaxed slightly and became thoughtful and I felt a giddy sense of relief that made me flush in embarrassment.

"This is just a lot of information to take in all at once. I didn't think that anything I spouted would be true when I picked up that nasty little doll." Sighing, I nodded and stood up from the chair I had moved to, stretching.

"Well the most important thing is that someone is threatening Cinder and that can't be allowed." Spot gave me a sour look and threw his hands up on either side of him.

"That's Spook's problem, if it's one of his newsies. It's ESPECIALLY his problem if it's his brat."

"Look I agree that Spook needs to deal with this but he isn't exactly aware of any of this. You weren't supposed to be told before him, I know that much." Spot's eyes narrowed and he heaved a rattling cough right before lighting another cigarette.

"Why the Hell wouldn't she tell me? It's not like it wasn't gonna be obvious soon anyways."

"Are you listening at all? Someone is harassing her who is from Harlem and even though she wants to be there she can't risk it. Not after this!" I lifted the doll and shook it at him with enough force that the little pin that had been fashioned as a knife fell out of the doll's stomach.

Both of us looked down, our eyes following its progress and when my gaze flickered back up, Spot's were already back searching for my own. He was clenching his jaw so tight I thought he'd crack something for sure.

"Everything is so complicated now. I wish that Cinder had never left Harlem." I was taken aback by the vehemence in his voice and watched him silently as he turned his head to stare into the night again. Moonlight hit his profile and I saw his shoulders sagging.

"Well, that's an awful thing to say."

"Is it? Then I wouldn't have to deal with any of this mushy crap."

"I see," I said shortly, standing up. Crossing my arms over my chest, I squared my shoulders and tucked my chin down. I didn't really know why I felt disappointed in him, but I knew that it was partly because I had hoped that he saw our relationship as different. Snorting sharply, I shook my head as a wry smile crossed my face.

"Stupid, stupid girl you are," I muttered to myself as I began gathering up my boots, cap and other things I had discarded throughout the afternoon. When I strayed near Spot to grab my scarf, he seemed to finally notice me again.

"What are you doin?"

"Going to bed like you should do as well, what does it look like?" I went rigid as he snaked his arms around my waist and pulled me against his side, laying his head on my stomach, burying his head into the folds of my shirt.

"You smell good," he said his words muffled.

"Hah! I smell like shit," I said as mirth filled my voice albeit begrudgingly. Even though I tried to stay angry it's hard when someone is hugging the life out of you. Extricating his face from my shirt, he looked up at me, his features softened for the first time this evening.

"Stay," he asked me not indicating whether he saw it as a command or a request. Either way I assumed he doubtless expected me to. I gave him a slight smile and pulled away from him. As much as I cared, I didn't want to get anymore attached to any of these kids since I was to be leaving soon.

"I really shouldn't Spot," I muttered even as I cursed him for the pleading look he sent me. Shaking a finger at him, I poked him on his sternum, pushing him in the opposite direction when I saw his hands move. My fingertip hit cold steel and I was suddenly overcome with the realization that even if I wanted to go home, I needed his damn key.

Tracing the fancy curls of the key I felt sad. I really was leaning towards staying here in this time if I could find enough people who genuinely cared. Spot captured my hand and kissed my fingertip as he looked up at my face.

"You just went all straight-faced on me, what's going on in that noggin of yours?" I attempted a smile and shrugged, breaking away and letting my hair hide my face as I bent over and picked up my cigarettes. Spot stood up and grasped my upper arm, both of us moving towards his door.

"Why won't you stay with me?"

"Because I shouldn't, that's why. Really Spot, I'm not one of those girls that you wax sentimental on while you're foolishly blind over them and then when something goes wrong it's all mush and nonsense." Spot tilted his head to one side and a corner of his mouth went up.

"Oh I get it, you're mad because I don't want to deal with thinking about Cinder having a baby. If you were me would YOU want to think about that?" I pursed my lips because I knew he had me there. Of course I wouldn't, I was too young for that. But unfortunately in this day and age that was a common side effect of engaging in sexual activity. Hell it happened in the time period I came from with an alarming rate even though condoms and birth control were every day things.

"Well…No, you're right about that. But that's what happens when you...mmmph…" Spot laughed outright and I knew that if there had been more light in the room my cheeks would have huge splashes of red across them.

"You got a point Riot, you afraid?" My mouth gaped open and I looked up at him in shock.

"Afraid of what having a baby or…"

"The mmmph?" The bastard, he was laughing at me! I elbowed him in the gut and turned to wrench the door open but he stopped me, wheezing laughter erupting from him as he held his stomach with one hand. Kissing me, he took my chin gently in the fingers of his other hand.

"I know what I want for Christmas," he said solemnly even though I could FEEL him vibrating with unshed laughter. Glaring at him, I pulled away and escaped down the hallway tossing a 'Not bloody likely' over my shoulder.

"Goodnight princess," I heard him hiss softly, his voice warmly mocking me. Then the dull 'click' of the door catching shut and I didn't hear anything else until I went to the girl's room.

I didn't remember falling asleep but I must have since the agitated screeching from a cot near mine had me sitting bolt upright and staring wildly around. Bookworm sat on Cinder's cot, holding her down by her shoulders as the girl thrashed about.

"What the HELL is going on?" I snapped, disconcerted as I made my way over to them. Emotions was standing by a window she had opened, smoking with her back to us. It made the room frightfully cold but I didn't ask her to shut it.

"Nightmare," Bookworm said to me grimly. Cinder was taking awhile to snap out of it. Even now, as she woke up, sweat dripping down her face and soaking the threadbare shift she wore to bed she was still mumbling under her breath.

Duck returned from filling a bowl with water and taking a rag, soaked it and dabbed Cinder's face. Sprite sat on her cot, wrapped up in her blanket, rocking back and forth. Her eyes looked hunted and I shook my head slightly at the obvious emotional trauma that a lot of these kids had endured.

"They were trying to take my baby, I wouldn't let them but they said they were going to take it." Cinder grasped the front of my nightgown and I patted her back while inwardly rolling my eyes. So much for keeping THAT under wraps for the time being.

The rest of the girls were bug-eyed and looking at each other. I helped Bookworm get Cinder comfortable again and went back to my own cot. Nobody said anything but the tension in the room was thick.

"Well what the Hell," Emotions tossed out into the darkness before coughing and rolling over pulling her blanket up over her head as she did so. I would have laughed but I was too tired. Even so sleep was a long time coming and the pearly gray light of dawn had already started to seep across the sky when I managed to close my eyes. I had a feeling I wasn't going to be the only girl not making the morning edition.

I was right of course, Emotions didn't make it out that morning but we both went straight to the DC for the afternoon one and I gave her a wan smile as I made my way to my spot. The general store was slow, and I was enjoying hawking my wares and listening to the old men discuss news of the day when a hand on my shoulder had me spinning around, one hand on my shillelagh.

Spook gave me a crooked grin above a moth-eaten scarf wrapped around his neck, a dark cape pulled low over his face. I was not happy to see Jinx with him as well, a cap yanked down over the other boy's red hair, his brown eyes boring unfriendly holes into me.

"Great," I said casting a prayer to the heavens as Spook motioned for Jinx to grab my papers and with a hand at the back of my neck, led me down a side street that would take us out of the protective inner circle of Spot's extended domain.

"Just goddamned wonderfully great."

**A/N – Sorry everyone for the delay, I had a really bad case of writer's block and every time I sat down to try to write it didn't happen. I know what's going to happen now (even though my mind changes constantly) so I'll try not to let it go so long again. **

**Raeghann – Sorry, here ya go! Don't die please.**

**IrishStorm – Thanks I'm glad you like it. :D**

**WolfxAngel – We'll see ;D**

**Elyse – I think it's safe to say it IS Sassy, but she may have help.**

**QuietOne364 – Thank you, glad you like it. **

**EtoileBrilliant – Heh yes I realize I made Riot sort of a doofus in the last chapter which wasn't my intent at all. She does manage to get herself into a lot of trouble though doesn't she.**

**Dimonah Tralon – I'm glad you liked your character. Yeah Spot's pretty quick, sometimes too quick. He always struck me as someone who was always thinking and plotting whenever I watched Newsies.**


	29. Chapter 29

"So am I to assume that this isn't just a friendly visit?" I tried to wrench my head away from the tight grip Spook had on the nape of my neck. Jinx spat on the sidewalk and leered at me. I really didn't like that boy, not at all. Glaring at him, I tried to maintain as dignified of an air as one could when being dragged down the street.

I kept looking around, hoping to see one of the Brooklyn kids, or any of Spot's birdies but Spook seemed to know his way around the back alleys which didn't make me feel any better. I also didn't enjoy how close Jinx was walking to me. For some reason I fascinated him and I didn't want to encourage that.

Finally we ended up in a pub in Green Point, which was deep in the Brooklyn borough but almost a borough within itself. The pub was close to the water and called The Drunken Mermaid and was full of sailors from the Navy yard.

Spook grabbed a table and ordered us a round of beers as I crossed my arms and tried to figure out if I needed an escape plan or not. Jinx sat next to me, and I inched my chair away from his which just made him smirk.

We sat in silence until the beers were delivered and then Spook and Jinx drank thirstily, almost draining their glasses. I merely sipped at mine trying to stay alert.

"How's Cinder?" Spook's question caught me a little off guard.

"Ask her yourself," I retorted and earned a slap upside the head from Jinx. Narrowing my eyes into angry slits, I put my hand on my shillelagh and hissed swears at him. It didn't seem to faze him and I stopped after a few moments.

"I would ask her if she wasn't in Brooklyn under Spot's protection." Spook spoke to me carefully almost as one would to a child. I bristled at the condescending tone.

"Well you seemed to whisk me away easily enough, so why not her?" Spook took a thoughtful sip of his drink and set the glass down with a thump.

"Would she speak to me if I tried?" I blinked at him and drank some of my own beer. Spook's face was earnest and Jinx had a slightly disgusted look in his eyes. I traced a shape on the tabletop and shrugged.

"You'll never know unless you try. I don't see why she wouldn't; I mean she's crazy about you." Spook's eyes lit up momentarily before he realized that it was undignified and he grunted at me.

"So I'm assuming you dragged me away from my post to ask me whether or not Cinder still likes you?" My voice was incredulous and Spook frowned which got me another slap from Jinx. I caught his wrist and dug my nails deep enough to pierce his skin which made him yelp angrily.

"Do it again, I dare you" I spat at him furiously. Jinx's brown eyes radiated murder and I saw him raise a fist before Spook caught his arm and shook his head, giving me a crooked smile. Jinx stood up abruptly and muttered something about needing to piss and stalked out the door of the pub. Spook and I silently watched him go, finishing our drinks and ordering another round.

"Be careful with him lassie, he doesn't like to be made a fool of."

"And I don't like to be smacked!" I took a huge gulp of my beer and glowered at Spook. He just shook his head and laughed, a lock of his black hair falling into one violet eye.

"Y'know Spot's going to check up on me in a little bit and he'll wonder where I disappeared to." Spook waved a hand dismissively and crooked the corners of his mouth up.

"You're in Green Point, he has no jurisdiction here." My eyes widened slightly and I gave Spook an incredulous smile.

"Shows how much you know," I retorted much to Spook's amusement. I knew Spot had disagreements with Curly Hanlon but that he regarded him as sort of a three-star general in his Brooklyn army. Someone to be counted on in a scuffle, but better left alone to do his own thing. Spot rarely had issues with Curly unless it affected the rest of Brooklyn. I knew that Curly would never have even been given the okay to segregate Green Point unless Spot approved so that meant something.

"I have my sources," was all Spook would say. I snorted and shook my head as I looked down at my drink. The glass was dirty and chipped in a few spots but if I avoided the chips and ignored the smears it was pretty good beer.

"So why not whisk Cinder away like you did me?"

"Because I need to know if she still wants me around after what happened in Harlem." My gaze flickered up towards Spook and I was a little taken aback by the sincerity in his eyes. I shrugged uncomfortably and it didn't help that Jinx took that moment to reappear.

"What about Sassy?" Spook frowned slightly, two lines marring the space between his eyebrows. He looked confused as if he didn't understand my question and I sighed inwardly.

"If you want Cinder to come back to Harlem, then you'll need to get rid of Sassy or bad things will continue to happen and Cinder will continue to run back here." I spoke cautiously as if to a child.

"Well I've been thinking about that…" Spook let his sentence trail off and I felt a knot begin to form in my stomach. Surely he wasn't going to say that he would let the little beast stay and expect Cinder to deal with that.

"I've been thinking about letting Jinx take over and moving to a place with Cinder, on our own." He couldn't have stunned me more if he had stripped naked and danced a jig on the table. My mouth dropped open to look first at Spook and then at Jinx, who was giving me a very creepy smile.

"Are you serious?" I all but shrieked at Spook. He raised his eyebrows in a silent reply and Jinx chortled and shifted in his seat. He reminded me of the red haired bully in A Christmas Story and I leaned away from him.

"What's wrong with my idea? I think it's a pretty good one and Jinx agrees with me." 'I bet he does' I thought in my head and I glanced quickly from Spook to Jinx and then back again. Spook seemed to read my thoughts and he relaxed slightly.

"Jinx go outside and wait for me, okay? Make sure Spot doesn't surprise us." Jinx made as if to protest but Spook shot him an icy glare that shut him up instantly.

"I said go outside and watch for Spot" Jinx stood up and stomped out the door muttering angrily to himself. Spook spread his arms out on the table and raised his palms upwards in an open gesture.

"So let me know what you think I'm doing wrong." I hesitated, unsure as to whether or not he was mocking me or if he really wanted my opinion. Scanning his face briefly and not seeing anything except curiosity, I cleared my throat.

"Well…I think it's a good idea, but you're not solving the Sassy problem and you know as soon as you're gone Jinx will turn that place into a nightmare from Hell. That boy is twisted in the head!" I twirled a finger next to my ear to illustrate and earned a smile from Spook. He inclined his head and turned his eyes towards the ceiling thoughtfully.

"And what would you have me do then, kill Sassy?" I choked on the sip of beer I had taken and spluttered for a few seconds. Wiping my mouth on my sleeve, I took another sip to calm myself.

"Of course not," I snapped "what do you take me for a murderer? I'm just suggesting that she needs to be strongly persuaded that you and Cinder are a done deal and not to interfere. She seems to be a little…possessive." Spook stood up suddenly and tossed a few coins onto the table. Motioning for me to follow suit, we went outside where Jinx was leaning against the wall of the pub, smoking sullenly.

Spook clapped him on the shoulder and told him a dirty joke about a fat woman named Peg and her worn knickers that had Jinx cackling with laughter. Relieved that the tension was diffused, I followed them silently, shouldering the rest of my papers that Jinx had dropped under the table.

The sun said it was mid afternoon and I knew I had missed the afternoon Distribution. Cursing softly I thought about Christmas coming up and wondered how I was going to repay everyone for the kindness they had all showed me. I had a small stash of coins under my bed in a small leather bag, but I knew it wouldn't be enough.

"Hey, Riot" I looked up, startled to hear Spook addressing me. He flipped a fifty cent piece through the air. I held onto in my dirty paw resisting the urge to bite it like they do in the movies to see if it was real.

"For your time and council" Spook said with a wry twist to his mouth. I felt a small smile spread my lips and I nodded to him. Then he paused and wrapping an arm around my shoulders, pulled me close.

"Now your job is to make sure Cinder wants me back while I figure out the rest, deal? I'll contact you when everything is set." And with that both boys seemed to disappear leaving me to wander through Green Point until I hit the border and recognized one of Spot's birdies, a tall gaunt youth named Ghost.

He had almost white blonde hair, light gray eyes, and pale skin. He pointed me towards the lodging house and I spent the rest of the afternoon getting rid of my papers and wandering towards the lodging house.

My brain hurt, and I struggled to wrap the pieces of all the different threads of my thoughts together to form something cohesive but every time I thought I had it, one of the threads would slip from my grasp. By the time I reached the lodging house, the sun was starting to go down and I sat down on the front stoop, my shoulders slumped, staring up at the sky.

I was lighting up a cigarette when a group of newsies came up the sidewalk, jostling each other and laughing. Duck, Bookworm, Emotions and Sprite were there, along with Maple and Action. Hide and Seek pushed through the crowd and embraced me gleefully before running inside shrieking at the top of their lungs.

"You okay?" Bookworm was giving me a concerned look as she fingered one of her golden hoop earrings. I gave her a wan smile and nodded, trying to be convincing. She glowered at me and promised to find out what was wrong because I couldn't fool her, and disappeared inside with the others except for Emotions.

We sat and smoked in companionable silence before Emotions coughed and flung the end of her smoke out into the street. I lit another cigarette with the end of my first and as if that was some sort of signal, Emotions put her hand on the top of my head.

"Something's brewing around here and I gotta feeling you're smack dab in the middle of it and you don't wanna be. If you need anything you know you can come to us girls and we'll help you sort it out." And with that she disappeared into the lodging house without another word or look back.

I smiled up into the chilly night air and tried to pick out stars. I had almost identified three constellations and two planets when I heard someone walking up the sidewalk. Taking a drag off my cigarette, and blowing briefly on the fingers not covered by gaps and holes in my gloves, I looked over.

Spot didn't say anything until he strode up beside me, his cane tapping on the sidewalk. I looked up into his face, shadowed by the dark, and half covered with a scarf. He looked at me without expression before cocking his head.

"Why were you in Green Point?"

**SHOUT OUTS DOUBLE TIME NEXT CHAP, I PROMISE!!!!**


	30. Chapter 30

It took my brain a few feeble attempts to jumpstart while I stared at Spot's face, processing his question. Spot's eyes were curious yet veiled, waiting for my answer. Our breath drifted around our heads in misty white clouds, reminding me of how cold it was outside.

Scraping a handful of snow into my hand, I lobbed it away from me, hard. My brow creased with a frown and I scowled up at Spot. He just crossed his arms over his chest and waited expectantly.

"Why does it matter if I went there or not?"

"Were you there to see Swagger?"

I gaped up at Spot incredulously not believing he would say that to me. My eyebrows must have hit my scalp as I snorted and turned my head angrily. Standing up to get my blood flowing again I stomped around which helped to alleviate some of my anger.

"How could you think that after what he did to me? Are you fucking mad?" I yelped as he lunged and grabbed my upper arm, squeezing steadily almost painfully, bringing his face close to mine so that I could see his eyes glittering in the streetlight.

"Watch yourself girlie and just answer my question."

"This is the second time I've been roughed up by some street rat today and I'm tired of it so let me go right now." Spot just stared at me, his eyes questioning but he didn't let go of my arm.

I twisted around and tried to wrench myself free but he just slid his cane into a belt loop and grasped my other arm, changing his grip so that he wasn't hurting me.

"What does that mean? What happened and who did it so I can go kill them." I couldn't feel my toes or fingers and I was certain that the tip of my nose was going to fall off so I begged him to go inside.

"I promise that we'll talk more, I'm just freezing my ass off out here." Spot dropped his hands from my arms and nodded at me finally. We trooped inside and shedding our outer gear went to stand by the coal burning stove in the corner.

I silently held my hands out to warm them, battling with myself about whether or not it was a good idea to tell Spot about Spook and Jinx. I wasn't sure that I could handle the situation myself, but if I told him would that affect the situation in a negative way?

Spot made an odd humming noise in his throat that sounded impatient and he started tapping his foot. I swallowed, wincing at the painful, dry movement.

"Well…" I began slowly, not looking him in the eye, but studying my hands until they were too warm and then I tucked them into my pockets. Shaking the change around in my pocket I finally blew out a huge breath.

"Spook and Jinx came to talk to me and they sort of…took me to Green Point." Spot didn't say anything for a few moments, and when I glanced up at him out of the corner of my eye I saw that his jaw was clenched and his nostrils white around the edges. I heard him take a ragged breath and then he put a hand on my shoulder so that I would look at him.

"We need some privacy I think," he said looking around pointedly at the kids who were hanging out in the lobby. My shoulder's slumped a little as I followed him up the stairs and to his room.

Even though I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, I had the feeling that this was going to turn into a fight and I was going to be the one who he took his anger out on. Not that Spot had ever really touched me in anger, but he could cut someone to ribbons with the sharpness of his tongue.

I waited while Spot lit his gas lamp, sitting down on the one chair that he had. As many times as I had been into his sanctuary I could never get over how lonely it seemed. There was nothing to tell the tale of the boy who lived in it.

As the lamp light chased away some of the darkness with it's steady glow, Spot tossed his cap onto the small desk next to my chair and lit a cigarette. Leaning against the wall, he crossed his arms and looked at me steadily.

"So why did Spook want to talk to you? Was it about Cinder, because that's the only thing I can imagine he'd tempt a fight over. He's lucky I didn't catch sight of him, although I'd LOVE to know how he even got into Brooklyn without any of my birdies telling me."

I wondered about that too, it was a worrisome thing if another borough could sneak in past the almighty Brooklyn's defenses. Pausing to light my own cigarette and mentally chastising myself for all the bad habits I had picked up, I sighed.

"Yes it was about Cinder…Spook is hoping that she still wants him back after all the trouble that's gone on. He said that it was my job to make sure that I convinced her of his feelings."

"That's not your job," Spot snapped, two spots of red appearing on his cheeks. His eyes were cutting in their anger and I looked away, out the window. Cocking my head I flicked ash off of my cigarette and shrugged.

"Yeah I know it isn't but I feel bad for them. Plus his brilliant plan is to hand over leadership to Jinx and move himself and Cinder into their own place. He doesn't even have an idea of what he's going to do about Sassy. Those are two VERY large problems."

Spot turned and braced his hands on the edge of the desk, his eyes clouded over. I could tell his mind was racing a mile a minute and I frowned, not liking that I had dropped this bomb into his lap.

"I'm glad you told me this Riot. There's no way Jinx can become head of Harlem, it'll be a nightmare. That kid is a little loony to say the least." I snorted and finally looked back up.

"You think? This has disaster written all over it and I don't like it one bit." Spot smiled down at me almost indulgently which put my hackles up a little.

"You'd make a good second-in-command for a girl."

"God are you serious? Excuse me for not having the same bits and pieces your Highness." Spot chuckled and I felt my chest tighten into an emotion that I could only describe as pleasure that I had made him laugh.

Awkwardly I began to pick at loose threads on my shirt cuffs. When I looked down I noticed that my left boot was beginning to wear down so thin that I would probably need to stuff newspaper into it to keep my feet warm.

"So what are we gonna do?" I jerked my head up and couldn't stop the smile from breaking out onto my face. He had said 'we' not 'you'! I hastily checked my grin and lifted my hands up in a shrug, palms facing upwards.

"I guess we'll have to talk to Cinder and see what she has to say before figuring out what to do with Sassy."

"What about Jinx? He's just as much of an issue as she is." I put my cigarette out and watched the wisps of smoke disappear into the shadows above the lamp. Taking off my cap I ran my hands through my hair and tugged on the ends in frustration.

"I don't know Spot, I really don't. I know that both of them are problems but what can we do? If we tried to get them thrown into the orphanage, they'd either break out or just come back when they came of age. I don't even want to think of doing anything crueler than that, it's just not right." I jutted out my chin in defiance as Spot straightened and gave me a long considering look.

"You're too soft, Riot. You'll never survive here if you can't toughen up a little. Your emotions will get the better of you yet if you're not careful." I stood up and began pacing the length of his small room.

"What's wrong with having feelings? We're human after all, not a pack of wild animals. How could you even entertain the idea of doing something worse than that?" Spot slapped his hands down on the desk, causing me to jump.

"Goddamnit Riot we ARE a pack of animals and we're this way because it's the best way to make sure we don't DIE. For your information, there are plenty of people out there thinking about harming other people and I'll tell you right now that the other newsie leaders including me, will do whatever it takes when life throws us a pile of shit to deal with."

My mouth was hanging open at his furious speech and I had backed into a corner, my arms wrapped around myself. But then anger took over and I stalked forward until we stood toe to toe.

"Compassion is NOT a sin, Spot."

"No but it's a weakness, and the weak don't make it very long do they?"

"God what happened to you to make you so hard?" Spot looked away and then glared at me, fingering the key he wore around his neck. His mouth was compressed tightly and his eyes narrowed as he looked down at me bitterly.

"Life happened Riot, that's what."

"Life is what you make of it, Spot," I snapped back as we glowered at each other in silence. When he lifted his hand towards my face I flinched away, which stopped Spot in his tracks. Looking at me in surprise, he continued his motion and tucked a strand of my hair behind one of my ears.

"I would never hit you Riot, never. No matter what nonsense you spout at me." I struggled to maintain my composure because I was just as thrown as he was. I had been slapped a few times in my life, but nothing to the extent that would make me cower like a beaten dog. It was just a natural reaction and I hastened to explain myself to Spot but he just shook his head.

"You don't need to tell me anything, just keep that in mind." Suddenly he was wrapping his arms around me, hugging me close to his chest. My head came just below his shoulder and I found myself resting it there.

"I have to be tough Riot I can't afford not to be. That's just the way it is here unfortunately. But…" My skin was crawling with shivers because he was speaking softly into my ear.

"When we're in a place where we know we're relatively safe, that's when we can let our guard down. But out there," he thrust his chin towards the window as one of his hands began rubbing my back.

"Out there we have to be tough little bastards whether we like it or not." Then he bent down and kissed me, sending little electric currents through my body until I pulled away breathless. Putting a hand onto his chest to steady myself I frowned up at him.

"You're trying to change the subject aren't you?" A rakish smile lit up his face as he cocked his head and leered at me.

"Is it working?"

"You little…"

"OW!" Spot rubbed his arm where I had pinched him before yanking me close for another kiss, this one a little more intense then the last. After a few minutes of that, he rested his chin on top of my head.

"Don't worry Riot like I said before, we'll figure it out together."

"Last one to the cigar shop is a scabber!" Emotions took off running with Duck and Bookworm in hot pursuit. Sprite and I trailed along, both of us not really in the mood for Christmas shopping. Skittery had come by the lodging house and bugged her about moving to Manhattan again until they had a huge row and Spot escorted Skittery outside, hissing warnings in his ear.

It was interesting to see Spot take care of his female newsies as well as he did, since I had been told it was quite the battle in the beginning to convince him to let them stay. But he really did seem to follow up on all of the kids under his 'command' in an earnest fashion.

Spying a hot dog vendor, I went and purchased two with all the fixings that I could get, and made Sprite eat one. She was thinner than usual and I was afraid if she turned sideways that she'd become invisible. Sprite protested but I almost manhandled her into eating it, clucking disapprovingly. She gave me a slight smile, and skirted a snow drift.

When we caught up to the rest of the group, Emotions was tucking a couple of cigars into her coat pocket, her present to Racetrack. Duck and Bookworm began pestering Sprite about Skittery until she seemed like she would explode, but it was all in good fun and she relaxed amidst their chatter.

I was lost in thought, wanting to get Spot something but having no idea what to get him. It wasn't long before the girls began picking on me and I gave in to them, letting myself get caught up in their anticipation of Christmas. We pooled our money and bought sweets for everyone in the lodging house deciding that we wouldn't get each other anything in exchange.

I was happy, imagining how the younger boys' eyes would light up and that feeling carried me along until my brain went into overdrive and I began to worry about Sassy, Jinx and the rest of that mess. Emotions slung an arm around me and I was yanked back into reality.

"So seriously what are you going to get Spot?" I shrugged and cast my eyes about at the shops for inspiration but nothing really appealed to me. There wasn't anything that jumped out at me saying 'Buy me, I'm perfect for him!' I mean what did one get for a hooligan?

"Honestly I have no idea, Emotions. He doesn't really strike me as an exchanging gifts kind of a guy." Bookworm joined our conversation and agreed with me. I ended up buying him rolling papers and tobacco, along with a nice bottle of whisky. It was dreadfully impersonal but I knew they were things he would appreciate.

I had an idea for another gift to add to that but I decided to wait and see how things played out. The rest of the afternoon was spent gazing longingly outside shops at their window displays and being chased out of stores by suspicious shopkeepers.

Finally we ended up back at the lodging house where I managed to find Cinder, and after stashing my gifts we retreated to the attic where once more we wrapped ourselves up in musty blankets to keep warm. Cinder was definitely beginning to show and we talked about her baby for a little bit before I broached the subject of Spook.

Cinder's blue-green eyes flashed with longing as her mouth twisted in a mockery of a smile. I laid out Spook's plan and she sat silently for awhile, twirling a strand of her red hair between thin fingers.

"I can't let him give Harlem to Jinx that will never work. It's hard enough to live there as it is without throwing that maniac into a powerful position. But what did he say about Sassy?"

"He didn't seem to know what to do with her, and neither do Spot and I." Cinder appeared mortified that I had clued Spot in to everything that had been discussed but I just gave her a steady look and she calmed down.

"The important thing is to keep you and the baby safe, and I don't know if that's possible around Sassy. She seems so…heartless as if she'd do anything nasty she could think of." Cinder threw me a knowing look and I shuddered thinking of her in such a vulnerable position.

"Well one thing's for certain. If he can't figure out how to protect what's his then it isn't going to be his," Cinder said as she stood up and masking the yearning look that flitted across her face, left me alone in the dim quiet of the attic to decide the next move.

**A/N – Okay *cracks knuckles* time for the shout outs!**

**SoYourTheVampireGirl – Well I'm glad you took the time to read the whole thing, and that you liked it! That's wicked awesome, thank you. Also thanks for reviewing the older chapters!**

**Apollonia_Veritas – I'm happy you are enjoying it. I was nervous to write a 'travel through time' story because lots of other people have done it and I wanted mine to be original. Hope you continue to read and thanks for the review!**

**Alliah – Or else what? *evil grin* I love writing cliffhangers. I know this story is long and that's partly because I don't want it to end! **

**IrishStorm – Yay thank you!**

**WolfxAngel – Muahahaha…I love cliffies :D**

**Elyse – Spook definitely needs to get his head outta his bum and think some things through. He does know that Jinx is a little off…so let's hope for the best!**

**ElleestJenn – You caught me, it WAS a shorter chapter then I usually write. I apologize, I hope this one is a little longer.**


	31. Chapter 31

It took me most of the next day to track Cinder down. I spent the better part of it ghosting her route; selling what papers I could while keeping an eye out for her. I finally caught up to her by late afternoon, the weak sun casting a slanting golden glow along the sides of buildings.

Cinder was handing an elder gentleman a paper, a smile lighting up her thin face as he gave her a tip. I stayed where I was, hiding behind the side of a building until the man was gone. Then I walked up to her, a casual smile on my face and a slight swagger in my step.

"I don't want to talk about it Riot," she said without looking at me, counting her change and stuffing it into a pocket. I deflated instantly and scuffed my boots on the sidewalk, slurring a pile of slush into a swirl of gray and black from the grit on the ground.

"Well you're going to have to talk to me about it Cinder. Something has to give, and the only person who can help is you." Cinder swung around at me all of a sudden, her cheeks flushed with either the cold, or anger. Her blue eyes glinted at me as she spoke.

"What if I don't want to help? What if I want to stay here in Brooklyn and Spook be damned? Why don't you piss off and stay out of it?!" I raised my eyebrows at the words she spat so passionately at me. Shrugging, I pushed my cap back on my head and scratched my forehead.

"Because you love him Cinder, that's why. And everyone knows it but you need to deal with it or Harlem is going to explode. I don't think it's fair to Spot that he'll have a borough war dropped into his lap because of your indecision." Cinder looked down biting her lip and shifting the few newspapers that she had from one hip to another.

"Sometimes I really hate you Riot," she said suddenly, her gaze boring holes into my head. I smirked a little and nodded at her.

"The feeling's mutual, trust me." Cinder's shoulder's drooped and she put a hand on her slightly swollen stomach that she still tried to hide with baggy clothing.

"But then again sometimes I'm so glad you're here." I was taken aback and Cinder grinned ruefully at me. Blushing I flashed her a quick lift of the corner of my mouth.

"So what's the verdict then? Do I send a message back professing your undying love to Spook like a good little cupid?" Cinder punched me on the arm and shook her head, smiling. I took that as a yes, and when she nodded I sighed in relief.

We walked back to the lodging house in a companionable silence, selling the last of our papers on the way taking turns with customers. Nobody was hanging out on the stoop, and smoke was coming out of the chimney in thin streams. The air had turned bitterly cold and we wasted no time going inside.

Cinder and I retired to the kitchen to write a response to Spook. I had to be prepared to read it to him and take a note back to Cinder. I knew Cinder could read and I was fairly sure that Spook could as well, but I had been surprised before. I did have to write the note, my penmanship was better than Cinder's.

"Tell him that I'm sorry I've been avoiding him and that I care about him so much. I also want him to know that I'm positive the baby is his, since Spot and I never….well you know after I came back here." I gave her a wry look and added that little tidbit to the message.

Once we were done, I made sure to tuck the note into a secure pocket so that I wouldn't lose it and promised Cinder I would deliver it tomorrow. It was way too cold to attempt it tonight. Cinder decided to go to bed; she was tired and felt nauseous. The door to the kitchen was left ajar and I heard Spot's voice order all the kids except for a select group to go upstairs.

Wrapping my hands around the mug of tea I had prepared, I blew on it and sipped as I positioned myself at the door, looking out into the lobby. Spot stood with his arms folded over his narrow chest, his eyes icy and angry. The boys ranged in a straggly line in front of him looked abashed, worried, or had no emotion whatsoever on their faces.

Narrowing my gaze, I recognized Ghost one of Spot's 'birdies' and knew instantly that these were his lookouts. One of the boys, a tall youth with gangly limbs that reminded me of Ichabod Crane lit a cigarette and blew out a large cloud of smoke. That seemed to catch Spot's attention and he walked over, sticking his face into the other boy's.

"Stork what the Hell is going on here? You and Paddy have bridge duty, so does Tips and Rooster. So explain to me how the fuck the leader of Harlem got into Brooklyn and took Riot to Green Point without anyone knowing." Stork looked down and shrugged, studying his feet. Tips gave Spot a slightly challenging look while Rooster's face was red with shame. Paddy was the only one who looked directly at Spot and waited.

"Go ahead Paddy, you seem like you got something to say." Paddy took a deep breath and his face went white underneath the smattering of freckles on his nose and cheeks. He had orange-red hair and was a short boy with a stout frame.

"It was my fault Spot, at least the first part of it. Stork went to take a leak and I got distracted for a few minutes so they must have come across in a group of people." Spot's face was unreadable as he motioned with an impatient gesture for Paddy to keep going.

"Well, tell me what distracted you then that you left your post." Paddy's face turned beet red and he began stammering and tugging one ear.

"Uhm well there was this girl…" Spot held up a hand and twisted his face into the semblance of a smile.

"For your sake I hope she was damn well worth it. I'm not paying you lookout wages for two days. Now go upstairs and get outta my sight. Stork, you can go too." Stork looked relieved and he slung an arm around the crestfallen Paddy as they walked up the stairs.

"Now lemme guess…Rooster you and Tips were by a barrel fire playing craps right? I know that some bums hang around that alleyway near the entrance of the bridge. I'm giving you the same as Paddy, two days no lookout pay." Both boys nodded, looking shocked. I was rather impressed that Spot knew his crew so well but then again this may have not been the first time he had been judge and jury.

Spot dismissed the rest of the lookouts in a similar fashion, pulling confessions out of them bit by bit. Then it came down to Ghost, whose pallid eyes met Spot's directly. Spot's posture relaxed a little bit and I saw him lift the corner of his mouth in a little grin.

"Riot, come out here wouldja?" I gasped and spilled some of my tea onto my hands. Cursing loudly I put it down on the table and slunk out of the kitchen to stand next to Ghost sullenly. Spot seemed highly amused by my behavior and he chuckled quietly.

"Why the face Riot, did you do something wrong?"

"No, are you gonna yell at me like the rest of them? I didn't go to Green Point by my free will remember." Spot's face looked stern as he gazed at me.

"How do you think I found out that you were in Green Point that day?" I glowered at Ghost who just smiled faintly at me and shrugged. Spot must have given Ghost some signal because he left, leaving only Spot and I in the deserted lobby.

Spot and I just stared at each other for a few moments not saying anything at all. Then I broke the spell by flopping down on the ragged, moth-eaten couch with stuffing escaping from all possible orifices. Raising a crooked eyebrow I dared Spot to say whatever was eating him up.

"So were you going to tell me about the visit to Green Point?" I blinked and cocked my head in interest. That was a question I wasn't sure I could answer. I wanted to spare Spot from a lot of the stupid in-between bullshit and that's why I hadn't been prepared to divulge the fact that I had been hijacked.

"Honestly I don't know if I was going to tell you or not." Spot seemed a little taken aback by my answer.

"Why wouldn't you have told me? Did you think I'd get mad at you or something?" I smiled a tiny bit at Spot's question because I knew that most likely he would have gotten angry. For some reason that was just the way our relationship worked. We liked to press each other's buttons and then make up only to turn around and do it again. I really didn't think it was healthy but I couldn't deny the fact that the abrasive kid fascinated me.

"Of course you would have gotten mad at me, it's what you do." Spot sat in a chair next to the couch, reclining slightly, his mouth turning up in a laughing grin. I bristled, but kept my annoyance to myself as I paused and looked at him expectantly. His ash colored hair was too long, it fell beyond the collar of his white and red gingham shirt and into his sapphire colored eyes. He had hollows in his cheeks which just emphasized his newly strengthened jaw line and snub nose. He was turning into a man before my eyes even though I had only been here for less than a year.

"We do fight too much don't we? I don't want you to think that you can't tell me things because you're afraid of me." I snorted loudly and turned red at the noise. I used to snort a lot when I laughed, because I couldn't help it. I thought that I had conquered that little trait, but apparently not.

"I'm definitely not afraid of you, so don't think that. I just…want to protect you from certain things." My hands began playing with a stray puff of cotton that escaped from a slit in the couch. Spot stood up and sat down next to me, I could sense his gaze but I didn't look up. I concentrated on braiding the cotton until he put his hands over my own, stilling my movements.

"Riot I've been running this crew for a long time, and I have learned a few things about dealing with hostile boroughs. Anything you can tell me that would help out would be appreciated but please, don't hold anything back because you think I can't handle it. That would be quite the insult don't you think?" I could do nothing but nod at him because I agreed with his logic.

"I got Cinder to agree that she has feelings for Spook so we composed a letter and it will be delivered tomorrow. After that we'll have to wait and then go from there." Spot's eyes narrowed upon me, sharp as a hawk's before it scooped up prey.

"And who is going to deliver this little note?" I hemmed and hawed, trying to come up with something on the spot but I couldn't. Frowning I glared up at Spot and gave him a look begging him to pick a fight with me.

"Who the Hell do you THINK is going to deliver it, you know that it's going to be me." Spot pursed his lips and grabbed my hand in his larger paw. He massaged my fingers and we sat for a few heartbeats before he leaned over gingerly almost as if he would break me and kissed me on the lips. It was such a soft kiss I almost didn't feel it and for some reason it emboldened me and I grabbed him by the back of the neck and kissed him myself.

It was such a hard kiss that our teeth almost ground against our lips, but I managed to hold on. When we broke apart, I wouldn't look at him and I stood up. He watched me, a veiled look in his eyes as I straightened my clothing and cast my gaze around the room.

"I'm still going tomorrow to Harlem. It's the only way to make things head on the right course. What else are we going to do? This needs to end before New Years…"

"Why New Years?" My jaw clamped shut and I refused to look in Spot's direction, instead striding across the room to inspect the ledger before putting it down with a solid thump. Thrusting a lock of hair behind my ear I saw my hand tremble slightly and knew how nervous I was.

"Because New Years is the start of a fresh beginning, and it shouldn't be tainted by old grievances." Spot seemed appeased but he stood up, unfolding his short by lanky frame from the couch to advance across the room until he stood in front of me.

"We'll deal with this together Riot, don't do anything stupid. I'll send some of the Brooklyn boys with you tomorrow." I cupped his cheek in one of my hands and ran a thumb over his mouth before planting a kiss on his lips.

"You're too good to me Spot" I said as I touched my pocket to make sure the letter was still there. Spot gave me a look that I couldn't decipher and leaned down to take my mouth with his lips in a possessive way. Then he stood back, his hands on my shoulders one playing with a tendril of my black hair and the other gripping my flesh for all that it was worth without hurting me.

"I'll go with you tomorrow if you want." I was shocked by his offer and my eyes couldn't hide it. He laughed grimly, putting one of his hands into his pocket, eyes hooded and hiding his emotions.

"You really don't have to," I said quickly before putting my head into the hollow of his throat on his collarbone. I loved that spot and had waited a long time to find someone who would stand still enough to let me just rest my head there without trying to make out with me at the same time.

Spot just stood there, running both hands through my hair this time and we both inhaled each other's scents and I made sure to imprint this memory in my head so that even if everything went totally South, I would remember the embrace of an arrogant, womanizing teenager who I had fallen hard for.

"We should get to bed it's going to be an early day tomorrow." I nodded and we made our way up the stairs. Spot paused to kiss me soundly before I went into the girl's rooms and he once more persisted in asking me if I would stay with him that night, but I declined gently.

He just smiled at me knowingly and told me again that he would head a contingent of Brooklyn boys to help me deliver Cinder's letter. I nodded and promised him that I would be waiting outside for him the next morning. Even as I tucked myself into bed, I was struck with the notion that both of us knew I was lying.

**A/N – I'm really sorry and I will say this now but I do get perverse pleasure out of prolonging this story. I know some of you are anxious to get it over with, but I won't hurry it up no matter what. So there… :P**

**Cloakedauthor21 – I know what you mean, I want the story to finish but yet I can't make myself do it…oh well. Hope you still like what I write!**

**SoYourTheVampireGirl—Here ya go! ******

**Elyse – Yeah life is hard and I hope I make that realistic but they'll figure it out**

**LaurenRose – Yay new reviewer! I hope you like the new chapter**

**WolfxAngel – Yeah Spot tries to be gentle but he isn't always that way. Here ya go, hope you like this chappie**

**elleestJenn – Here's another longish chapter. I know it's hard to wait for endings, but I still have some twists I'm working out. I don't want the story to end the way the readers are going to predict.**


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N – Bad language in this chap in case some of you are adverse to that just a warning. I do get told I have a mouth worse than a sailor on shore leave but I try reeeaaallly hard….Honest. –A/N**

The next morning I rousted myself from the warm nest of blankets on my thin mattress and carefully stood up. Dressing in the dark, I checked my pocket and blanched when I realized the note to Spook was no longer there. Making a face, I eased down the stairs towards the lobby determined to at least get a cup of coffee into me.

I noticed a flickering light from underneath the kitchen door and pushed it open, the scent of coffee filling my nose. My mouth dropped to my knees when I saw Spot sitting at the table, calmly sipping out of a cracked mug his face puffy with sleep.

"What the…how did you…" Spot just stood up and poured some coffee into a mug and handed it to me. I sat down with a thump, too tired to really care. It was when Spot flourished the folded piece of paper in his hand that I woke up. That and I had just inhaled a miniscule amount of coffee down the wrong tube. Hacking away, I tried to growl at him and snatch the paper out of his hand, but I couldn't until I took another sip of coffee and my coughing fit ended.

"You little sneak! I can't believe you went through my stuff like that." Spot just shrugged and twirled the paper over his fingers in the same manner I had seen street magicians juggle coins with one hand.

"If I had known that you were going to wait for me, I wouldn't have done it but since you and I both know that wasn't going to happen I took matters into own hands."

"Yeah well you didn't have to!"

"Didn't I?" We both glared at each other before finishing up our coffee. Silently we collected our outer gear from the pegs by the front door, and I tucked my shillelagh into a belt loop, mimicking Spot and his cane.

"So how are we going to do this then? Are you really going all the way to Spook's with me?" Spot just walked along silently, helping me over icy patches on the street. It was bitterly cold out in the early morning hours before the sun came up and I didn't talk much after that.

We reached the bridge and Spot gave a man driving a cart full of coal a couple of pennies to let us perch in the back. Nobody spoke and the traffic across the bridge was just a slow trickle. I was lulled by the warmth of Spot's body next to me and the clopping of the horse's hooves on the cobblestones. The driver let us out partway through Manhattan and I thanked him profusely.

The sun was starting to peek over the horizon and I stretched, basking in its meager rays. Spot still wasn't talking but he watched me, no expression on his face. We walked along at a fast pace, both of us not eager to do our task but wanting to get it over with at the same time.

Some nuns gave us coffee and crusts of bread and we fled as soon as we had it in our hands. Spot muttered something about the nuns that made me giggle and the tension eased somewhat. Gnawing on my crust of bread, I felt my steps grow heavier and my stomach fill with dread.

I was glad that Spot was with me, but at the same time I was wondering what was going to happen when they saw his face. I calmed myself by saying in my head that he was here to support me, not declare war or anything stupid like that. But still, worry pervaded my thoughts as we reached the boundary line and crossed over into Harlem.

"You sure about this, Riot? We can still go home and sell some damn papers and make money for Christmas." I stopped and looked up at Spot, making a face as I thought. Then I shrugged and continued walking, grabbing his hand and pulling him along behind me.

"I already bought my presents," was all I said to him as he protested. Catching up to me, his legs a little longer than my short ones he poked me in the side.

"You already got your presents huh? What'd you get me, didja get me anything?" I laughed a surprisingly loud sound in the stillness and shook a finger in Spot's face.

"You'll have to wait and see won't you? Did you get ME anything?" Spot's face closed off and he gave me a secretive look.

"Maybe," he replied shortly, his walk becoming more swaggering and aggressive as we reached the street the Harlem's lodging house on. I swallowed hard only to find my mouth dry. Spot handed over the note to me, and I tucked it into my pocket.

It was still early, but the sun had mostly risen and some sleepy street kids were straggling out of the lodging house. I recognized one of them, a boy with a cowlick and a missing tooth who stared at us as we walked up. He turned and ran back inside. We didn't follow him; we just stood on the sidewalk as a few older boys poured outside, Jinx being one.

Jinx didn't look any better right after he had woken up and his temper certainly hadn't improved either. Shoving a piece of cheese into his mouth he wiped it on his sleeve and glared at us. He had a certain look in his eyes that made me want to shiver and hide behind Spot but I didn't. Those brownish yellow orbs raked me up and down as he sneered.

I pretended not to notice and placed a hand casually on the rough wood of my shillelagh, hearing a snort of laughter as I looked down the street. Looking back I glanced at Spot to see his jaw squared so tightly I thought it might break. I honestly prayed we didn't look as scruffy and scrawny as we did. The Harlem kids didn't look much better, but we really should have brought some other Brooklyn boys with us.

One tall boy with black hair and brown eyes was cracking his knuckles which made the muscles in his arms flex. He was standing outside in nothing but pants and a wife beater which made me widen my eyes. Spot leaned on his cane; arms stretched out in front him almost trying to affect the attitude of a gentleman. The look in his eyes and frosty tone in his voice belied that action however.

"Spook still inside?" Jinx spat close to Spot which I thought was going to send him into a rage but he held himself in check. A surge of pride shot through me at that, which amused me. I tried not to smirk but couldn't help it, which a few of the boys noticed and grumbled about. Jinx caught my eyes with his and raised an eyebrow.

"I knew you'd come back to see me…Why don't we go upstairs and get to know each other a little better huh?" A strangled noise came from Spot's throat and I placed a hand on his lower back as unobtrusively as I could to calm him down.

"That would be nice Jinx," I said demurely lowering my eyes and smiling a little. Jinx preened and showed his stupidity by actually believing me as I then looked up and grinned scornfully.

"When Hell freezes over and pigs fly would that be nice" Jinx shot daggers at me with his eyes and opened his mouth to reply but Spook showed up shadowed by the young boy who we had seen earlier. Spook was drinking a cup of coffee, his black hair rumpled and violet eyes shadowed by dark smudges under them. He looked exhausted and I felt bad for him despite everything. I really didn't want any of this to end badly.

My sympathy faltered when Sassy appeared, sliding an arm around Spook's waist. Her ginger hair was pulled back into a braid and her eyes looked sly. Spook shook her off which made her mouth pinch in anger. The two of us fought a silent battle with our eyes until Spook gave us a twist of his mouth that I supposed was intended to pass as a smile and beckoned us inside.

I knew that Jinx followed us inside, Spot had gone first and I could feel someone pressed up against me close as I hurried to catch up. A hand grabbed my arm and roughly turned me and slung me up against the wall of the narrow hallway. Blinking in the dim light, I looked up at Jinx my face still as I struggled to show no fear or misgivings.

"I know what you're here to do and I'll tell ya right now that I'm not going to let it happen so you better give it up."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said innocently but Jinx shook me and gnashed his teeth in frustration. The tips of his ears were turning red and it reminded me of a story I had heard about a Chicago gangster who was at his most dangerous when his ears turned red.

"Don't fuck with me you little bitch! I will be leader when Spook leaves with his little whore so you and your small man can just go home and pray that I don't start anything later." I couldn't help but stare up at his outburst and was vastly relieved when he suddenly let me go and shoved me so hard down the hallway I almost fell onto my face.

Sassy came from the direction Spot and Spook had gone, her face red with fury. Brushing past me so hard I staggered again, she caught up to where Jinx was and I could hear them whispering, their voices low but not low enough in their anger.

"You told me that you would take care of everything! This isn't taking care of anything, you dumb bastard."

"Shut up Sassy, you were supposed to get Spook to forget about Cinder and you couldn't even do that so get out of my face." There was the sound of a slap, so loud that it made me wince, but the thud of flesh hitting flesh that followed brought me up short especially when I heard Sassy gasp in pain.

But, and I'm not proud to say it, I kept walking until I reached the same small sitting room where I had met with Spook the last time I came here. I rubbed my arms where Jinx had held me and shook my head when Spot asked me if I was okay. He persisted and I finally snapped at him and took the note out of my pocket and threw it at Spook almost hitting him in the face.

Striding over to a beat up rocking chair, I dragged it so that it faced away from the boys and slumped in it rocking hard. The thumping of my feet helped get rid of my anger and shame at not saying anything to help Sassy. I reasoned with myself that she wouldn't have liked me trying to help and Jinx probably would have just hit her harder when I left, but it didn't really help.

Nobody said anything for a long time; I could hear the crinkle of paper and the soft murmuring of someone trying to sound out words. I didn't offer to help Spook; I just ignored the both of them. All of a sudden my chair was jerked to a halt and I whipped my head around to glare at whoever had interrupted me only to find Spot standing there.

"Can you join us?" He asked but I knew it was partially a command so I stood up and turned the rocking chair back around. Spook's face had smoothed out and lightened as he finished the note.

"So this is good then, aye? Now what do I do?"

"Write back?" I said snidely which earned me stern looks from both boys. Spot had taken off his coat and his cane lay in his lap. He rested his arms on it and peered at us.

"I won't tolerate Jinx as leader of Harlem, Spook. I came to tell you that I will bring the rafters down on this place if that happens." I was shocked, and there was nothing I could do to hide it. Spook laughed mirthlessly and raked a hand through his hair.

Violet eyes met blue and sparks could have ignited at the steel in both of them. I stomped a foot on the ground and it broke the tense moment although both boys looked wound up. Jabbing an ink stained finger in Spook's direction I began spouting off at the mouth.

"Cinder wants to come back but she won't unless Sassy is dealt with. None of us have ANY idea how to do that and it's not safe for her or the baby because of that girl's obsession with you.

Jinx is another problem and he is a very important one since he wants to take your place and turn this borough into a war zone. So you have some things to think through before you answer Cinder."

I took a breath and looked at Spook to see if he was listening. He was, although he was looking down at his work roughened hands, rubbing them absentmindedly.

"Do you agree?" I asked a little less intensely and he raised his head, his eyes bright.

"Of course I do, I want Cinder back just as much as she says she wants me," he said shaking the note she and I had written at me. I inclined my head showing that I acknowledged what he had said.

"But forgive me if I say that I am a taken aback by your determined declaration my dear Mr. Conlon…"

"It would be the only answer to that situation should it occur," Spot spat at Spook. Spook lifted his hands in a placating gesture and nodded his head.

"You are of course right, it would be utter chaos if Jinx took over, and I think I bumped my head when we were discussing it because he isn't…right for the job."

"A little late to say that dontcha think?" I snapped at Spook, rubbing my eyes and feeling tired. Spook merely shrugged and looked calm which made me grind my teeth.

"Enough of this, I don't know anything about what it's like to be in your positions," at this I pointed at both of Spot and Spook.

"But I do know that if you want Cinder you're going to have to fight to get through this because it's going to be difficult and over quite soon…" They were both staring at me and I realized I had tripped up again. Spot was watching me with concern in his eyes while Spook looked a little baffled.

"Please…we have to figure out how to fix all of this. It can't…it just can't go on anymore it's interfering with too many people."

"Let's start with me writing back to Cinder and go from there" Spook said. I frowned but he had spread out a piece of paper and was sharpening the tip of a small pencil with a pocketknife.

We ended up leaving Harlem with a note to Cinder and nothing else resolved. I could feel two pairs of eyes boring holes through my back as we walked down the street towards Manhattan. I was so angry that I was sure steam was pouring from my ears but I couldn't take it out on Spot. I just couldn't believe that there was literally days left to figure this out and I was stuck between two indecisive parties who were being influenced by those two fuckwads in Harlem.

I kicked at the snow until my foot connected with a chunk of ice and I yelped and fumed in silence. Spot tried to take my hand at one point and I jerked away, stalking ahead of him.

Finally he grasped my arm and I winced in pain as his hands met with the spots Jinx had left. Spot looked at me in surprise, taking his hands away fast.

"I barely touched you," he said narrowing his eyes at me. I waved a hand and just tried to give him a sheepish smile. He slung an arm around my neck and kissed the side of my head that wasn't stuffed under my tweed cap.

"Everything will be okay Riot, I promise." I choked and just hung onto the hand that dangled over my shoulder sending prayers upwards that he was right. But deep in my head, all I could think was 'shit'.

**SHOUT OUTS!**

**Raeghann – I'm glad you like the pacing, I've been worried that I'm taking this slow and I don't want to rush the end because of that. And yeah shit (pardon my French) is about to hit the fan…**

**IrishStorm – Don't worry the story won't end completely badly. There may be some badness but I won't say for who. It also isn't going to end predictably (I hope) so we'll see. I'm glad you like it. **

**Dimonah Tralon – Wow thank you so much, that was a great compliment!! I try to balance fun and games with the seriousness but ya know it's how life is..one minute everything's going great and then bam! You've got an issue on your hands.**

**WolfxAngel – Thank you so much! Hope you like it**

**ElleestJenn – There are a couple twists left and I hope they're good!**

**CloakedAuthor – Thank you, thank you! *holds Pulitzer* I don't know if I should want this or not, but yay! I do! Thank you for being a faithful reader and reviewer and I hope the story ends good enough to be described 'epic'. That's a big order to live up to but I'll try.**

**Elyse – Thanks, I try to make Riot a strong character, with certain weaknesses but I still want her to be able to stand on her own. I'm glad you think she's independent.**


	33. Chapter 33

I spent the next few days wrapped up in my thoughts and only barely acknowledging anyone who spoke to me. Sometimes I shook it off enough to apologize to whomever and would try to engage them in conversation for a few moments. More often then not it was Cinder who had gathered some hope from whatever Spook had written to her.

I was still very unsure how this tragedy was going to play out and discomforted by the fact that it was turning into a turn of the century version of Romeo and Juliet, and EVERYONE knows how THAT story ends. I stood at my post, stomping my feet and blowing on my hands. I had lost one of my pairs of gloves and was cursing myself softly so that none of the potential customers walking by would notice.

A gentleman bought a paper from me and told me that I should find a warmer place to sell since the weather was supposed to drop into the lower twenties. He said it was going to be the coldest Christmas on record for a long time. I gave him his paper with a wan smile and said thank you when he gave me an extra two pennies.

My nose was frozen but was running constantly. I kept sniffing and praying that it stopped soon. I must look a sight, standing there all huddled and bent over, with my nose running freely. Chuckling mirthlessly I wondered again for the millionth time why I was subjecting myself to this. All I needed to do was get Spot's key and take off if the mirror would let me.

Then I thought of Spot lying in an alley somewhere bleeding out from a bullet that I could have stopped and felt my heart jerk painfully. Damn that boy he had definitely wrapped himself around my heart and was gripping fast. A carriage went clattering by and hit a rut in the road that was filled with half frozen slush which then splashed all over me.

The driver, a young man began smirking at me as he drove by and I hastily scraped up a snowball and wound up. I ended up nailing him in the back of the head and smiled in satisfaction as he squirmed, icy snow dripping down his collar. Grabbing my papers I disappeared into the crowd, not wanting a confrontation to spread beyond that.

I ended up in an Irish neighborhood and skirted my way around a group of rough looking men drinking poteen and darting up a front stoop, opened the door to a tenement building. All I could smell was cabbage and urine, some of the men not bothering to use the privy's in their apartments.

I went to the end of a narrow hallway on the bottom floor, brushing past a tired looking young woman with red hair escaping from a kerchief on her head. She had a child hanging on her skirt, screaming in anger or hunger and her arms were full of dirty linens. She briefly met my eyes and I was struck by how old she looked despite her youthful features. She couldn't have been more than twenty but she looked forty.

Shuddering, I continued on and knocked on a door at the very end of the hallway. A small woman answered, her white hair neatly braided in a fat braid that fell down her back. Her face was as creased and lined as a strip of aged leather, but her skin was the color of pale porcelain. Milky blue eyes looked up at me and squinted. She had forgotten that her spectacles were perched on her head again.

Smiling, I plucked them off and handed them to her. She put them on and then a smile split her face almost in half. Grabbing my hand she pulled me into her small apartment, it was sparsely furnished but she had a few chairs and she bustled into the kitchen to make some tea.

I had met Brigit O'Bannon while selling papers and she was selling hot potato soup that drew customers from the few factories in the area as they walked home after work. We shared the same corner and looked out for each other. I had never mentioned her to the others; she was my little oasis of peace.

Accepting a cup of tea, I listened to her tell me stories about Ireland, and the small town in County Mayo that she was from. She was teaching me some Gaelic and how to cook some of the traditional Irish dishes she knew how to make.

"So my girl what do I owe this visit to?"

"What I can't just drop by for the pleasure of your company?" I joked gently, sipping the tea gratefully. It warmed me up splendidly and I sighed happily as I felt the warmth spread through my body.

"Aye, I don't doubt that's part of it but I can tell you are conflicted by something." I was always astounded at how she could gage my mood without clearly seeing my face. Brigit's eyes weren't what they used to be so I knew that although she could tell who I was that she had to make an effort to focus.

I found myself spilling the tale, leaving out the parts where I had come through a rift in time and that I was here to meddle with preordained fates. Brigit listened without interrupting me and when I was done I felt better. She didn't say anything for a few moments, just sat in her rocking chair and sipped on her tea a thoughtful expression on her face.

"It sounds to me like those two are up to no good and nothing will change their minds no matter what you do. I wish I could offer up some better advice but it seems they have dug their heels in and set up a fortress of ill will. Doubtless there will be a final confrontation that will decide everything." I stared at her as she summed up the situation and had to shake myself.

We talked about other things and then I excused myself and braved the chill of outdoors once more. Brigit was undeniably right, there really was no plan we could come up with that would work. Ultimately we would just have to monitor Cinder and Spook and I would have to make sure nothing happened to Spot.

Trudging back to the lodging house as the sky darkened early due to the season, my mind was swirling with thoughts and I was certain that it would blow up at any minute. Kicking at lumps of hardened slush and snow, I began muttering to myself until I noticed people giving me a wide berth and clamped my lips shut.

When I reached the lodging house, I stood by the wood stove until the girls drew me into a poker game. The players were sitting in the lobby on the floor in a circle, legs crossed. I cheered up some being around the other newsies as they picked on each other and laughed uproariously when someone lost after making a huge bluff. I looked around at the familiar faces that had grown so dear in the time I had been here.

I caught the eyes of both Duck and Emotions and they gave me concerned looks back. Sighing deeply I stood up and signing my name in the ledger, made my way through the crush of kids and went upstairs. Sprite was asleep on her cot, her tiny body barely making a lump underneath her blanket.

Bookworm lay on her stomach on her cot, a book spread out before her. She glanced up as I walked in, her eyes unreadable.

"Are you well? You haven't been yourself lately" she said as I sank down onto my own cot, resting my head in my hands supported by my elbows on my knees. Dropping my hands I looked at her and shrugged.

"I just feel so tired lately and there's…so much going on that my brain is ready to pop." Bookworm gave me a kindly smile and digging around came up with a book and handed it to me.

"Here read this, taking your mind to someone else's story usually helps me." I accepted the book and grinned wryly at the fact that it was 'Wuthering Heights' but began reading anyways. It did work to some extent for I did lose myself in the story and the character's plights.

I had relaxed somewhat when Spot poked his head into the room. I felt a thrill pass through me at his appearance and he beckoned to me. Standing up I followed him down the hallway to his room. I hadn't seen him all day and I was a little put out.

As soon as he shut the door he took me into his arms and kissed me. I finally broke away, sniffing at him for I could smell cigars and alcohol. Spot took off his cap and hung it on a peg as well as his ratty old coat. Kicking off his boots, he lit a cigarette and pulled me onto his lap. Nuzzling at my neck, I shivered in delight. My neck was definitely one of my most sensitive areas.

"Where have you been, you smell like a giant cigar!"

"Sheepshead," he replied with a slight smile.

"Racetrack came and abducted me; I had no say in it whatsoever." I laughed out loud at that unlikely scenario and leaned over to sniff his vest. I loved the smell of cigars, my father smoked them. Sorrow passed over me and I turned my head away but Spot had caught the quick flash of pain in my eyes.

"What's the matter?" He gently turned my face back towards his with a hand on my cheek. I shrugged and smiled faintly.

"Nothing, it's just my dad loved cigars and it reminded me of him." Spot nodded and cuddled me closer to him. I laid my head on his chest and listened to the steady thump of his heart.

"You miss your family huh? Have you thought about you known…going home?" I swallowed hard and looked up at him. His face was serious but I saw a hint of anxiety in his eyes.

"Of course I have but…I've found a place here and I like it even though it's hard living. I owe you and all the rest of the newsies so much for taking me in even though you didn't know me." Spot's arms tightened around me as he gazed at me.

"I'm glad you're here Riot, and I'm happy you don't want to leave. I…really don't want you to go away." I gave him an evil smile and poked him in the side.

"Even though I'm such a pain in the ass you still like me that much?" Spot turned red and looked away before clearing his throat.

"Yeah I like you that much" was all he said. I buried my face into his chest a huge smile on my face. Spot dug his fingers into my sides and I squirmed, giggling hysterically. Jumping off of his lap I shook a finger at him in mock admonishment.

"No way, no more of that mister!" Spot stood up and pulling open a drawer rummaged around in it for a couple of minutes before holding up a deck of cards, a triumphant smile on his lean face. Waggling them at me, he gave me a challenging look.

"Wanna play cards? If I win you spend the night with me. If you win, you spend the night with me." I burst out laughing and gave him a look which I'll have to give him credit for, he read correctly.

"Just sleeping, nothing else I promise." Spitting into my hand, I held it out and raised my eyebrows. With a rueful smile he did the same thing and we clasped hands sealing the deal. Spot began shuffling the cards and we sat down on the floor.

First we played poker with a handful of pennies, Spot won all three games. I challenged him to a game of blackjack and I won most of those games. It was so much fun to just let go and enjoy spending time with Spot, no fighting, or grave decisions to be made. He laughed and smiled more than I had seen him do so in the past month.

After cards we played marbles although Spot made me promise that I wouldn't tell anyone he was playing such a kids game under penalty of death. I chuckled at that but did give him my word so we drew a circle on the floor and began to play. It was evident very quickly that although he protested that it was a kid's game he was still very proficient. He beat me soundly and thoroughly at least five times.

"Okay, okay" I said after the last game and threw my hands up in the air. Spot straightened up and dropped all the marbles back into the worn pouch and tucked them into the drawer of his desk. I ran my finger over the top of the desk and looked at him curiously.

"Why do you have this anyways?" I asked him. He turned red again and shrugged avoiding my eyes.

"I like to write sometimes, ya know keep tabs on the borough and money." I was struck immediately by the fact that he was talking about his journal. I stopped prying and left it alone. I didn't want him to get embarrassed and stop writing in it.

I found myself feeling tired of all sudden and yawned, stretching hugely. Spot leered at me and winked. I felt my cheeks flush and I dropped my eyes. Kicking off my boots, I didn't take anything else off. It was way too cold even inside to sleep without as many clothes as you could possibly have on. Spot pouted a little but he didn't take anything off either. Sweeping me off my feet with a leg hooked around my shins, I fell onto the bed, Spot right next to me.

The shock on my face amused him to no end and he laughed for awhile before I began punching his arm. Guffawing he rolled us so that we were on our sides and threw an arm over my middle putting us into a spoon position.

"Just relax and go to sleep Riot, I keep my promises." I thought that it would take me quite some time to get used to having another person hanging all over me while I tried to sleep, but his body heat made me drowsy and I drew the blanket up to our chins and finally slept.

The next morning I woke up first, and slid out of the bed. Pulling my boots on, I bent over Spot and pried his eyelids open kissing him at the same time. He woke with a start swearing until he realized he was being kissed and he leaned into me, putting a hand on the back of my neck. I extricated myself with regret and as Spot stood up, I tossed him his coat.

"Another day another penny," I lamented as he pulled his own boots on and slapped his cap onto his head. Suddenly Spot's face brightened and he took my hand and twirled me in a small circle. Confused I gazed up at him, my eyes wide.

"It's Christmas Eve Riot, tomorrow's Christmas!" My stomach fell to my feet and I almost gagged. I ran over the days in my head and came to the same conclusion. I held Spot's hand tightly and drank in the sight of his face wondering if I really only had a couple more days left with him.

"What's a matter?" he asked as we left his room and walked into a hallway full of curious stares. I turned five different shades of crimson as Spot slung an arm around my waist and glared.

"Nothing happened ya bums not that it's any of your damn business." I took Spot's hand and dragged him down the hallway and the stairs, pausing only briefly to throw my coat on and notice that someone had hung mistletoe over the doorway that led into the mudroom.

Spot made sure to take advantage of that before I yanked him outside. He had no expression on his face, but his eyes held an amused glint as we made our way to the Distribution Center. Snow was falling sparingly and I looked up, enjoying the sight as it hit the street lamps that were still lit thanks to the dark morning.

"Why are you embarrassed Riot, nothing happened."

"I know but they don't know that!" I cried, flushing again as I wrapped my scarf around my face so that I almost couldn't breathe. We decided to sell together and caught a ride on the back of a trolley to Spot's corner. During a lull, Spot brought up the subject of Cinder and Harlem.

I made a face and said I didn't want to talk about it. Spot pressed and I ignored him for awhile, hawking headlines and adjusting my scarf so that I didn't taste wet wool. We stopped to eat a hurried lunch as it was snowing heavily and we wanted to get back to the lodging house.

"We're going to have to do something ya know" Spot said to me on our way home. I sighed and stopped, putting a hand on his arm. Spot looked down at me questioningly and I thought back to Brigit.

"I think it's out of our hands at this point. Someone told me that what will be, will be and all we can do is try to keep ourselves safe. I think that's the best advice that we could follow. Let's just…let things unfold on their own." Spot looked away and didn't speak for awhile. Then he nodded and took my hand in his own and we continued on to do whatever it was that the Brooklyn kids did on Christmas Eve.

**SHOUT OUTS!!! Wow I've almost reached 300! How exciting! **

**WolfxAngel – Is this quick enough? Sorry about the suspense I love doing that, I'm evil…**

**Elyse – Sassy may have been pressed into service we'll have to wait and see…I think it would be interesting to have a story about Jinx, although I have a story idea already in my head for my next one but it's something to keep in mind, good call!**

**Kay – *does new reviewer dance* Thank you I'm flattered that you like my story. I know that there are many time travel stories and I tried to make this one as unique as I possibly could. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**SoYourTheVAMPIREGirl—Thank you! I updated again pretty quickly so here you go! :D**

**Dimonah Tralon—Yes Riot definitely needs to be careful. I don't think I'll have anyone figure out she's a time traveler though, that's already been done. Have faith, everything is coming together!**

**FallenSpades – Yay! *does the new reviewer dance* Thanks! Love your name**

**Writer24-- *more new reviewer dancing* whew! Thank you so much I appreciate it!**

**Cloakedauthor2—mmmm blizzard…*drools* **

**OutcastToReality—Love your name it's great! Thanks, I was hoping when I started writing this that it was going to be unique and not cliché. I'm glad people think that it is different! And don't worry, you can give me a character for my next story.**

**elleestJenn—Yay I updated even sooner!! You'll have to wait and see about Spot!**


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N – Thank you guys so much for reading this story. Unfortunately it's going to end soon but I'm psyched that I reached 304 reviews!! You guys rock hard, thank you –PS—Slight adult situation and swearing. –A/N**

Spot decided that since we hosted Manhattan for Thanksgiving that it was their turn. On Christmas morning, the young kids ran downstairs screeching for the fruit and candy we had gotten them. We had also given some of the kids more marbles or spinning tops.

The older kids gave their gifts a little more privately. Emotions gave me some brass knuckles; Bookworm gave me a nice copy of Oliver Twist, my favorite Dickens's story. That or Great Expectations but Oliver Twist was definitely my favorite one. Duck gave me a pair of thick socks and mittens. They were green which my favorite color is. Duck gave everyone the same thing, because winter was far from over and they were appreciated greatly.

Sprite gave me a bag of rolling tobacco and I grinned at her, because I had told her I was running low the other day. I gave the other girls their gifts and went to find Spot so I could give him his. He was in his room, sitting on his desk, scribbling madly into his journal. He jumped when I came in after tapping on the door.

"Jesus girl you trying to kill me? Is that my Christmas present then?" I made a face at him and just pulled out the chair next to him and took a seat. It was colder in here than the rest of the building and I noticed that Spot had the window cracked open.

Shivering, I glanced at him, but he seemed lost in thought, hiding his journal in the desk drawer

"Aren't you cold?"

"Nah" Wrapping his arms around his chest, he scooted around so that he was facing me. His blue eyes had a strange light in them. He did shut the window when he noticed my teeth chattering. I waited quietly and tried to assess his mood as he got up and began pacing the room.

"Uh…well here are you presents…Merry Christmas." I put my package on the table, and Spot walked over and opened it up, a small smile on his face.

"Very practical," He said almost as if he was disappointed. I felt my cheeks flush because I was getting the vibe that he didn't like them. I put a hand on the bottle of whisky and smiled up at him slightly.

"Well I can always help you drink this tonight" Spot's eyes caught my own and I had to hold my breath because no other boy had ever looked at me like that. I wasn't fooling myself into thinking that I loved him or he loved me. Seventeen is not exactly the most mature age to decide things like that.

To try to break the tension, I stood up and pretended to look around his small room.

"So where's my present?" I bugged him until he put a hand over my mouth and smiled fully for the first time since I had seen him this day. His eyes had turned serious and he fingered the key around his neck.

"You'll have to wait and find out. I'm gonna give it to you after we go to Manhattan. Speaking of which we should go and decide who's gonna stay." The youngest kids didn't go running around the city with us after we were done working and wanted to play at bars and such.

"Fine Scrooge, I'll wait until later then." Spot pushed me toward the door and slapped my butt. I turned a shocked look over my shoulder to see him smirking. Making a rude gesture I left his room a little unsure, my mind going a mile a minute. I knew what my real present to Spot was going to be and I was nervous as hell about it. I had done it a few times with a boyfriend I had in Vermont, but we were fifteen and it wasn't that great.

I knew Spot was experienced and that intimidated me to say the least. Going to into the washroom, I scrubbed my face with the rough bars of soap we had. The mirrors were slightly fogged and I knew someone had taken a quick dip in the one bathtub we had.

I lifted a finger and drew a large question mark on the mirror's surface the quiet erased by the slight squeaking noise. Lifting the side of my mouth into a tiny grin, I left to go to the girl's room to brush my hair and change.

Once the older newsies congregated in the lobby, Spot appointed three of the middle aged boys to stay. One was a kid named Speedy because he could run the fastest in case something happened. As we went to leave, Grim showed up and stood waiting until Bells ran up to him. Smiles lit up both of their faces and I felt a jolt of happiness hit me. I was glad for the both of them.

As a matter of fact, it was me that noticed they were standing underneath the mistletoe, and I coughed. They turned to me with questioning looks on their faces and saw me giving them a grin that could have rivaled the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland.

"Look up" I said smugly crossing my arms. They looked up at the same time, and Bells turned slightly pink, twisting a lock of her unruly hair with her fingers, watching Grim. Grim just smiled mischievously and pulled her close and kissed her thoroughly. They parted to catcalls and whistles. Bells hid her face in Grim's shirt but we swarmed towards the door to leave and they were caught up in the tide.

Manhattan had decided to have their party at Medda's of course. They seemed to take advantage of her hospitality whenever they could, but she was always happy to oblige. She and her dancing girls had done quite a number on the place; there were enough Christmas decorations to fill up a building. It was quite festive and I forgot about my troubles as I ran my hand over the sparkly softness of a rope of garland that someone had wrapped around the staircase railing.

Downstairs by the stage, the Manhattan kids were milling around the stage area. Hyena was at her usual spot, behind the piano, pounding out Christmas carols. I didn't see Irish or Jazz which meant they were probably behind the curtain getting ready to put on a show.

Tiggey was playing with some of the younger kids that were there, I think they were playing tag, but I couldn't be sure. There were clumps of mistletoe hanging around and when two boys got caught underneath it a lot of us laughed while the boys just exchanged manly hugs. I shook my head when Spot and Jack ended up underneath one.

Jack puckered up his lips and Spot looked like he was going to smack him one, but he just patted Jack on the cheek sort of hard and then shook his hand.

"You belong in the loony bin Jackie boy" The few of us watching got a good laugh at that. I sat at a table nursing a mug of beer. The lights dimmed and suddenly the lights on stage lit up and the dancing girls came out, in satin, velvet outfits with lots of feathers in their hair. They wore green, red, and white for the holiday and they looked so splendid that I put two fingers in my mouth and whistled as loud as I could.

I saw boys clamoring to get close to the stage but the boyfriends of some of the dancers were standing at the edge acting as bouncers. Tiggey came over and chattered with me briefly before Mush came and they went off to sit on the edge of the stage. I sat at the table alone until suddenly Bells slid in across from me.

"Thanks for earlier" she said meeting my eyes and giving me a contented smile. I saluted her with my beer and told her it wasn't a problem and that I hoped they were happy together. She went off to find Grim who was standing at the bar, his eyes only on her. I saw Bookworm dancing with a tall boy with piercing light green eyes and black hair. I laughed out loud because I finally recognized him as Flask one of the Brooklyn boys.

"So why is Conlon's girl sitting here alone?" I looked over as Misery stopped by the table looking rather calm unlike her normal angry self. Pie Eater was standing behind her, a hand on her shoulder. I gave her a grin that was half-way between a sneer and smile and Misery laughed. Cuffing me on the shoulder, she left with Pie Eater, her arm around his waist, head leaning on his arm.

I didn't know where Spot was, I couldn't see him in the crowd. Cinder was making her way over towards me, her arms wrapped around her belly as she was pushed around by rowdy boys and girls. Silver was talking with Flint, and I saw him stroke a piece of her hair and tuck it behind her ear.

Doc was sitting with a group of Bronx newsies and they were laughing and fooling around. I had gotten myself a second beer when Cinder sat next to me, her cheeks flushed. She seemed out of breath and I gave her a sip of my beer even though I probably shouldn't have. But it was a small sip and then I went and got her some water.

We just sat and watched everyone silently and were startled when a voice with a Scottish brogue came out of nowhere next to us. Both Cinder and I swiveled around to see Spook standing next to our table. My eyes must have almost popped out of my head. Spot seemed to show up instantly and I was irritated with him.

Spook spit into his hand and held it out to Spot. Jack showed up too, backed up by Kid Blink and Mush.

"Not here to cause trouble, just want to see my girl on Christmas y'know?" Spot looked at him hard but finally nodded and Cinder threw herself at Spook, tears turning her eyes into watery pools. They embraced tightly and wandered off to a spot to be alone. My heart was almost jumping out of my chest as I wildly considered if what I had been told was wrong and the confrontation was going to happen here tonight. Then again, my mind rationalized with me, maybe because he showed up nothing is going to happen at all.

"Stop thinking so hard you'll make your brain hurt" I looked up at Spot's voice to find him standing next to me. Snorting, I buried my face into my mug of beer. Spot sat across from me and stretched, putting his arms onto the table afterwards, his hands almost touching me.

I looked away and watched Medda and the girls performing. Spot began tapping the table with his hands and I put my attention back to him, my face not hiding my irritation. Spot laughed and caught up one of my hands into his own.

"Why are you mad at me? 'Cuz I was dealing with borough business? I was watching you the whole time y'know." My cheeks turned hot and I once again took a long gulp of beer.

"Riot every time I look at you this weird feeling fills my chest." Shocked, I lifted my head and looked at sharply. We just stared at each other for a few minutes until I put my hand on top of his.

"I feel it too…Although I'm not sure what it is exactly."

"Me either" Spot said in a quiet voice. I gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand hard.

"That was really nice of you to let Spook be with Cinder tonight." Spot just gazed at me, a look once more in his eyes that I couldn't name even if I tried. Shrugging he stole my beer and took a healthy swallow.

"I'm not a completely heartless bastard Riot" he said as he thumped the empty mug down and signaled a barmaid to bring us two more drinks. I didn't know what to say so I just sat in silence, our hands still clasped on the surface of the table. We sat like that for some time. We talked a little every once in a while and I knew that I would go through my plan for tonight.

I was so scared though because I had been warned repeatedly that Spot was the type to love 'em and leave 'em and I didn't think at this juncture I could handle that. But if he did, there was always the option to leave after I made sure he didn't die.

The party died down some time past midnight and I noticed that the crowd had already thinned as people had slipped out. The boroughs separated and began heading back to their lodgings although I saw some couples break away and disappear. Spot and I stood up and he kept my hand in his as we walked out of Medda's and back towards Brooklyn. I knew that Emotions was staying with Racetrack at Sheepshead somewhere, I really didn't know where their little hidey hole was.

Sprite was staying in Manhattan with Skittery, they had actually managed not to fight tonight and they were trying to make that last as long as they could. The rest of the Brooklyn group head back keeping to the shadows in case any cops were out.

The city was quiet and the weather bitterly cold. We reached the bridge and nodded to the kids stationed at either end. I puffed away on a cigarette thinking in my head how my lungs were going to give out on me soon even though I could do the walk from Brooklyn to Manhattan no problem but I need to give the smokes a break. I filled my head with nonsense like that until we reached the lodging house.

I pulled my hand out of Spot's grasp and he stopped and stared at me. I sheepishly held up my smoke and he rolled his eyes.

"You know you can smoke inside right? I've seen you do it plenty of times." I shrugged and looked up to see if I could see some stars and was rewarded with a cluster above us.

"C'mon, I don't want you freezing to death out here that would piss me off." I laughed out loud and threw my cigarette into a snow bank. We went inside and everyone hung out in the lobby talking about the party. The little kids had long since gone to bed, Speedy was standing up, his eyelids falling closed repeatedly until Spot noticed and sent him to bed.

Soon enough, everyone began to make their way upstairs. I put if off as long as I could until it was just me and Spot downstairs. I was perched on the desk and Spot was lounging on the beat up couch. His eyes met mine and he raised his eyebrows.

"What's the matter Riot? Are you scared to go to sleep? Having nightmares or something like that? It's nothing to be ashamed of; a lot of us have nightmares because of stuff we've seen, its normal." I shook my head and looked at the floor. I heard Spot standing up and then he was tipping my chin to look at him.

"Riot, seriously tell me what's going on"

"I want to spend the night with you" I blurted out suddenly and then jerked my chin out of his grasp and slid off the desk, trying to make my escape. Spot grabbed my arm and swung me around.

"What's wrong with that, you've slept in my bed for awhile." I took a deep breath and made myself look up at him.

"No…I want to SLEEP with you." Spot looked shocked, the first time I had ever seen that expression on his face before his blue eyes darkened slightly and he cupped my chin in his hands. Laughing softly, I tensed waiting for the rejection.

"Is this my Christmas present? The real one anyway?" I nodded curtly and tried to remove my face from his hands, but he grasped me firmly and made me look at him.

"So this is why you've been acting all strange tonight. What did you think I wouldn't jump at the chance to spend the night with you? Riot I've been trying to do that for months. You silly, silly, girl…" he trailed off and just looked down at me.

"Ok so um…" Spot took my hand and led me up the stairs and to his room. He disappeared for a second and came back with a second blanket. I looked questioningly at him and he grinned.

"If we're going to be doing what I hope we're going to be doing, it's rather cold in here without us wearing clothes." I flushed and nodded, playing with the buttons on my coat. Then I took it off and laid it on the chair near Spot's desk. He took off his own coat and flung his cap onto the floor where it landed in a corner.

Lighting the gas lamp, Spot paused and looked at me, the flame casting shadows over parts of face and highlight his cheekbones and hair. I kicked my boots off and then just thought 'fuck it' and pulled my shirt over my head. I was wearing an undershirt like the rest of the girls who chose to dress like a boy.

Spot did the same but took his undershirt off as well. Silently he came over to me and hooked a finger into one of my belt loops. Pulling me close, he kissed me gently as one of his hands made short work of the buttons on my pants.

Then he pulled me down to his bed and we shed the rest of our clothes and did what nature intended in this type of situation. Spot was a little surprised that I had done it before, but he got over that quickly.

Afterwards I started getting out of bed and collecting my clothes. Spot sat up, his breathing still a little hard, and gave me a weird look.

"What the hell are you doing? Come back to bed Riot, it's late." I dropped one of my boots and looked at him.

"Seriously? Everyone told me that you used girls up and threw them away." Spot was silent for a minute but then he grabbed my hand and yanked me down onto the bed.

"Yeah I used to do those things but not with you. You are my friend first and foremost and now I'd like to think that you're my girl. Is that okay with you?" I gaped at him before swallowing hard and nodding. He hesitated and then his hands went around his neck and he pulled off the key he wore.

"You gave me something special so I'll give you something in return" he said softly as he put the cord and key around my neck. I protested but he insisted and then wrapped his arms around me and laid me down.

"Time to sleep Riot" he murmured in my ear. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep but for me, I spent most of the night fingering the key around my neck. Spot had just willingly given me my ticket home.

**SHOUT OUTS!**

**SOYOURTHEVAMPIRE GIRL – Ding ding ding!!! We have a winner! ::hands you a medal and a cookie::**

**STORMERS1998—Thank you so much it will be finished soon. One more chapter I think..maybe two but probably only one more.**

**WHONEEDSSANITY45 --- Yay new reviewer ::does new reviewer dance:: Thanks for reading I'm glad you like it.**

**KAY – I'm very sad to be at the end because I enjoyed writing this and the responses that I got to it which kept me going. Don't worry though I have another story with Spot as the lead next.**

**ELYSE – Yeah Spot is cute in this but don't tell him. I know Brigit came out of the blue I was a little worried about that part but I threw it in there anyways. Yeah the drama is never ending. They'll be getting a break soon. **

**DIMONAH TRALON – Good because I love the classics too. I started reading them a long time ago and they're wicked great.**

**WRITER24 – Don't worry if Spot dies I'll take all the blame. But he may not….::does the new reviewer dance:: I don't know if I did that for you before or not but there it is again…**

**ELLEESTJENN – Yay I'm glad you liked it! ******

**WOLFXANGEL – No special occasion just in a writing mood I guess. Glad you liked it!**


	35. Chapter 35

**A/N – I wrote this chapter to Snow Patrol's "Run" which is so flipping sad. So we'll see how it goes…**

My relationship with Spot changed dramatically after that night on Christmas. I was officially dubbed the "Boss's woman" and it seemed like every shady character who passed me on the sidewalk now nodded or said hello to me. It made me question whether or not Spot was really some sort of gangster on the side. He definitely had enough people who knew who he was to say the least. Then again he had a very charismatic yet grating personality.

I didn't like the attention but there wasn't anything I could do except sell my papers deeper in the Irish section which pissed Spot off to no end. He harped on me day and night about how it wasn't safe there for me, that there were gangs of men who would chew me up and spit me out.

I tried to stay near well lit places, and outside factories or business. My mind was not on selling papers however so I often just drifted along the streets of Brooklyn lost in thought. More than once Spot had to send one of his birdies out to find me. I only had a few days until the New Year and I was so tired of thinking out different strategies.

A day before New Years Eve, I stood next to a paper factory and hollered headlines until my throat almost went raw and only got three pennies. Frustrated, I wiped snow off of a crate that sat outside the factory and flopped down, holding my papers under my arm. I was wearing Duck's scarf and I snuggled my nose down deep inside it, blinking at the wind swirling loose snow up into the air.

For once it was sunny, but still cold. I wasn't complaining though, it had been overcast for four days earlier. Shifting uneasily, I couldn't find a good seat on the crate, but I wasn't going to use my papers and sit on the ground. I saw some young boys with slingshots darting in and out of an alley and got up to investigate.

The youngest one stopped dead when he saw me, but once he figured out that I was a girl, he gave me a small smile. His cheeks were slightly sunken in but he was decently clothed in pants, a jacket, and a cap slightly askew on his brown hair.

"Whatcha doing?" I inquired as the two other boys came over to where we were standing. The tallest one had the black hair and dark look of a black Celt, his blue eyes stood out like little orbs of light. The other boy had blonde hair and hazel eyes. They were all wary of my presence and I asked them if they were practicing with their sling shots.

"Yeah" the oldest one said, grinning, revealing a mouth full of teeth that were already starting to rot at a young age. Taking a stone from a pouch that hung at his waist he grabbed a stick that was leaning up against one of the alley's walls and threw it at a pile of garbage that had collected in the dead end place.

Mass squeaking erupted as huge rats erupted from the trash, and the boys took aim with their sling shots and fired repeatedly. I was a little grossed out by what they were doing, but when they said that the rat catcher paid them a penny for every dead rat they caught, I shrugged and said good luck to them.

I walked back towards the lodging house and managed to sell all my papers except two which I was planning on throwing into the wood stove back at the house. The sun was shining on my face and I pushed my scarf down to enjoy its rays. Snow still whipped through the air and hit my face, but it felt good.

I brushed past men and women on the sidewalk, careful to keep my money in a pouch around my neck tucked inside my shirt so that if I ran into any pickpockets it would be harder for them to find anything. I couldn't wait to see Spot and I felt my cheeks turn warm at the thought. Things had moved so fast it seemed, but I guess that's the way it worked back here instead of the way it happened in the future.

I rubbed my red, chapped hands and blew into them. The sun was bright and reflected off of the snow even though by now most of it was churned up and dirty. I didn't feel like going back to the lodging house yet so I went down to the docks and sat at the edge, listening to all the dockworkers going about their day.

The river was frozen in some spots and still clear in others. I began to hum songs in my head that I missed since they weren't thought up yet by people who didn't exist. I took a cigarette out and lit it thoughtfully, throwing the match into the river. I winced a little remembering how polluted the river would be in my time.

Finally I got way too cold and stood up, dusting snow and dirt off my rear. Still smoking, I trudged down the dock and watched snow drift upwards like powder absentmindedly. If I had been paying more attention, I would have seen Jinx and two big thugs standing at the end of the docks, arms crossed and smug smiles on their faces.

My only option was to jump into the river and swim for it. Glancing down swiftly, I decided against that based on how bloody cold the water would be and that my clothing would become saturated and help pull me under. Jinx must have noticed me looking because he made a signal and one of the goons stepped forward and grabbed me by the arm.

I could smell the garlic he had eaten at some point because his pungent breath seared my cheek. I started flailing around and Jinx calmly slapped me and instructed the other gorilla to grab my legs so that I was pretty much horizontal in the air.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing you little shit for brains?" I spat out at Jinx's back as he led us down the dockside to a ladder leading down to a small boat with oars. Now I knew how Harlem was getting in and out of Brooklyn without being seen most of the time.

They lowered me down the ladder like I was a sack of potatoes. Once inside the boat, I tried to rock it enough so that I could fall out but Jinx once again cuffed me upside the head but this time enough to make me see stars and it gave one of the thugs enough time to lash my hands together with rope.

When I shook my head and finally cleared my eyes of the fuzziness, I heard oars slapping against water and watched with dread as we left the safety of Spot's territory behind. I closed my eyes and didn't open them again until the boat hit against something and I looked to see another ladder leading up to a dock. I was prodded roughly and I held up my tied hands.

"Are you stupid, I'm not going to be able to climb a ladder like this" In response one of the goons grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder. I squeezed my eyes closed waiting for both of us to tip off the ladder and into the murky water.

But we managed to make it up the ladder, and the kid put me on my feet, holding out a steadying hand when I swayed. I looked up in surprise and saw shame flash through his gray eyes. Then he was moving away, and the other kid who had eyes so brown they were almost black grabbed my hands and dragged me behind him. There was nothing in his eyes, they were practically dead looking.

I didn't recognize where we were and we walked for a long time. Then we came into a clearing of sorts and I realized where we were thanks to watching 'Gangs of New York'. This could only be the infamous Five Points district because I could see five main streets converging into this open space where people were selling things, or sitting around watching with sharp, untrusting eyes.

I was prodded along until we reached a dilapidated warehouse where a kid the size of Hercules stood outside, arms crossed over his massive chest. He nodded at Jinx and I was suffused by a cold wave of fear. Whatever was going to happen to me was not going to be good.

The door opened into a musty smelling building, with old crates and fallen beams scattered all over the place. I was shocked it hadn't fallen down around the ears of the Five Points newsies. The other thing that made me widen my eyes was that I could see nests of blankets here and there, but mostly near a steady fire going in the middle of the large room. I could even see snow on the floor, but these kids didn't even have proper beds. It made me realize that no matter how Spartan our conditions were that some of the other groups had it even worse.

I wanted to cry when I saw an emaciated boy gnawing on a piece of rock hard bread. He couldn't have been more than five and it made me ill. There were only two girls, and I swallowed audibly as a kid from the group hunched around the fire stood up and grabbed one around the waist and led her off to a far back corner of the warehouse where the light was dim.

I knew by the catcalls and sly looks what was going on and I tried not to retch. The girl hadn't struggled but she hadn't gone completely willingly. I had seen her eyes flicker towards a tow headed boy of about fifteen who watched the other kid with barely concealed hatred in his brown eyes.

But then the attention was focused on me and the damn Harlem boys. The blonde boy stood up and walked over, anger splashed all over his face, held in check by a thread it seemed. I looked at the ground and gritted my teeth determined to not let what had happened to the one girl become my fate.

"Jinx, what the fuck you want?" Jinx instantly became contrite and ducked his head at the other boy's icy tone.

"I'm sorry Cig, Spook's ordered that this girl be brought here and kept for a day or so." I opened my mouth to call him a liar, but he had me by the arm and he dug his nails into my flesh so hard that I only glared all him furiously.

"Yeah well Rory's busy so you'll have to wait." Jinx gave an apologetic shrug and just shoved me forward. I stumbled, and Cig just steadied me and moved away.

"Don't worry; Spook doesn't care about any of that other stuff you owe us. We'll be square if you take this broad." Cig raised his eyebrows as he looked over and turned to Jinx with a sneer on his face.

"What this little thing tougher than you Harlem boys can handle?"

"I'm from…" The words came out of my mouth but it was at that point that Jinx lost it and punched me on the mouth. I tasted blood, warm and coppery as my lip split open. I huddled on the ground in a ball while he kicked my back, swearing the whole time.

Finally someone pulled him away and I just kept where I was, breathing shallowly and cursing this whole damn situation. I held onto the key as I waited for another blow. I promised myself that as soon as I got back to Brooklyn (well if I EVER got back to Brooklyn) that I would go home through the mirror.

Thinking of Spot was painful and I missed him so badly that I had a weird ache in my chest. Cig hauled me to my feet and dropped me in an empty spot by the fire. Nobody introduced themselves and I didn't care at all. They could be ghosts as far as I was concerned, I just lay curled into a fetal position, pain radiating from my back and mouth where Jinx had lost it and attacked me.

The fire began to die down and I sensed people drifting away from it to their little blanketed areas. I closed my eyes so tight that I saw spots but it didn't stop tears from leaking out. I muffled the crying by biting my sleeve and eventually it passed. I could hear people talking and I paused to listen to them, not really knowing what I should do.

"Why did you go with him again?"

"Cig," the voice was female and sounded so tired. I concluded that this was the girl who had been dragged off as I had been dragged in. Someone stirred the embers of the fire, and I felt a momentary burst of warmth hit my back.

"You know I have no choice, that's how Zeke expects it. Would you rather that he beat me half to death and still did it?"

"I would rather he didn't fucking touch you at all, Bree. This is getting really old fast." Cig's voice was frustrated, angry and at a loss. The two began murmuring to each other and I peeked over my sleeve to see them leaning their foreheads together, a blanket pulled around them.

I really didn't want to be in this place, where it seemed violence was about to erupt at any second. Even though it seemed most were asleep, I could hear other people talking in low voices. I almost shot out of my skin when someone leaned over me, a hand covering my mouth.

"We're leaving and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I left you here when I know what your fate would be." I had thought Cig and the girl Bree were still sitting together, but they seemed to have come to some sort of quiet agreement. I looked up into Cig's dark eyes and then my gaze flickered to the girl Bree, a thin yet palely pretty girl with black hair and brown eyes. The other girl was crouching near them as well, a blanket pulled over her head so I couldn't see anything of her face except some blonde hair that fell forward as she waited.

They all had blankets wrapped around themselves and they moved silently towards the back of the warehouse, skirting sleeping kids with great caution. It wasn't until we got to the far wall where there was a hole big enough for us to pass through when someone shouted in anger.

Cig threw the two girls outside and then shoved me after them, before he quickly popped out. Grabbing the two girl's hands', he shot me an urgent look and ran down a side street. I turned and ran in the opposite direction, yet away from the warehouse. I had no idea where I was or how to get back to Brooklyn. Plus it was nighttime and I did NOT want to pit my chances of surviving a dark winter night in New York City alone.

I heard footsteps slapping down the street back the way I had come and I began running again, my breath frozen in the night air in front of me until I felt a pain in my side, and I stopped, lungs heaving. Whatever Jinx was planning, I did not think getting me out of the way was the end of his plans. I wondered what had happened to make him think he had to snatch me and cursed softly.

There were still people on the streets, and I tried to make myself as unnoticeable as possible. All I could do was keep walking, if not to try to get somewhere familiar, then to not freeze to death. Even so, my feet eventually were too sore to keep going. I was so angry at myself because all I did all day was walk and stand on my feet yet here I was and I couldn't go on.

I slid down an alley and huddled against a wall, sticking my hands under my armpits and wrapping my scarf more securely around my face and ears. Rocking back and forth, I rested my legs and feet for what seemed like forever but was probably only half an hour before I stood and staggered on.

Fortune smiled down on me because I had been pushing myself for about ten minutes hot tears spilling down my cheeks, before I stumbled and landed on someone. Offering apologies left and right, I started to straighten the person's clothing when they stopped me.

"It's alright child, don't worry yourself over it." I was being smiled at by a middle-aged priest, his coat not covering the white at his throat proclaiming his profession.

"You're out late on such a cold night my dear" Nodding, I found myself suddenly babbling about how I had been taken from my home in Brooklyn and brought to the Points, and needing to get back to Brooklyn as soon as possible. The priest sniffed my breath to see I suppose if I was drunk, I didn't blame him for I was carrying on.

"Well you're not far away," The priest looked around and spotting a carriage, waved a hand and paid the driver before helping me climb in.

"What's your name, what's the name of your church so I can repay you?" The priest's kind blue eyes glinted briefly in a flash of lamplight and he just patted my hand and told the driver to get me home as fast as he could. I shouted after him before the driver spurred his horses on and I was thrown against the back of the seat. If there was ever a time to pray, it was now so I did.

**SHOUT OUT**

**RAEGHANN—Thank you I'm glad you liked it still. I should have made Riot's statement a little clearer making it sound like her opinion and not her stating a fact. I do understand that back then 17 was the same as 25 nowadays in most aspects and I worded it poorly. But thank you for pointing that out, I went back and read it and I see what you mean. (PS – Wasn't Brad fantastic in I.W.A.V?)**

**SOYOURTHEVAMPIREGIRL -- I'm so glad you liked it but yes, sadly it is going to be over.**

**NEWSIESOWNME-- *Does new reviewer dance* I can't believe you sat and read the whole story at once, even though I do that too with stories I really like. You're too kind by the way, I wouldn't call myself one of the best writers on here. It IS weird that you were able to predict certain things before they happened. I hope you keep reading my stories and if you want to be in the next one, when I ask for a CC, send one in and I'll pair you with Bumlets :D**

**OVERLYDRAMATICALTO93 – Yay new reviewer! Those types of guys are my favorite (the rock type) and I've dealt with quite a few of them so it's easy to write Spot that way. **

**ELYSE – Thanks I didn't want to be too vague or too graphic with the bedroom scene so I tried to do in between. I'm sad it's going to be over too, but you gave me an idea for the ending. We'll see how it works ******

**DIMONAH TRALON – Oh I hope you don't cry! I don't think anyone will cry at the end of this but my idea of the ending changes every day lol.**

**ELLEESTJENN – I'm updating as fast as I can, lady! *grin* Hopefully you stick around for my next story too.**


	36. Chapter 36

A/N - SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG GUYS, I'VE BEEN REALLY RELUCTANT TO FINISH THIS STORY. I DON'T WANT IT TO END, BUT EVERY STORY HAS TO END EVENTUALLY. SO HERE IS MOST OF THE ENDING.

The carriage had barely come to a complete stop when I shoved myself out of it, running inside the lodging house without a look back. I ran in, hollering Spot's name and growing increasingly frantic at the blank stares I got in return. I felt my eyes begin to burn with tears as I pounded up the stairs and almost mowed Action down, who grabbed my shoulder.

"Where have you been Spot's been going crazy looking for you!" I wrenched myself out of his grasp and took a deep breath.

"Long story, I don't have time for it right now. Where is Spot, I need to find him!" Action pursed his lips and looked me over disbelievingly before telling me to my horror, that Spot and Cinder had gone down to the docks.

"Why the Hell did they do that?" I almost screeched at him. There was no common sense at all to be had from that idea. It was freezing out and night had fallen both two dangerous things to deal with. Gathering up some more clothes I threw them on and ran out the door. Action hollered something after me, but it was lost in a sudden gust of wind and the shouts of New Years revelers who were carousing the streets.

I was exhausted and it took all the strength I had to trudge through snowdrifts and avoid drunken people but I made my way to the docks finally. I could make out two figures standing hunched over near the entrance, and I slid and ran to them. Spot looked up as I pounded over some planking and came to a stop.

"What the FUCK are you doing here?" got mixed up with "Where the HELL have you been?" as we collided into each other's arms. I buried my face into Spot's shoulder, so relieved that he was okay and felt a few tears leaking down my face. Cinder was staring at us, her face a mask of confusion and I haltingly gasped out my story. Spot's fingers gripped my shoulders tightly as he yanked me away from him to glare at me in such a fury that I winced away from him.

"I'll kill him. I swear to God I'll kill that bastard!" I was so relieved at seeing Spot in one piece that I couldn't do anything but cling to him. The key that hung around my neck was cold on my skin and I had a wild impulse to drag Spot back to the lodging house and take him through the mirror with me. But then I looked over at Cinder's white, pinched face and shuddered in acceptance. I couldn't leave her to her fate, she had been cruel but she was a friend now...sort of.

"Why are you guys down here? It's freaking freezing out, are you crazy?" Spot made an impatient gesture towards Cinder and told me that a runner from Harlem had come with a message telling her that Spook wanted to meet her at the docks. I snorted in disbelief and just stared at the pair of them, my eyes wide.

"And you just traipsed down here like a pair of fools?" I was so angry I couldn't see straight, especially at Spot who was way more street smart than this.

"Why do you think I came with her damnit, I wasn't going to let her come here alone!" I huffed out a breath of air that drifted away in a white puff and disappeared in the dark.

"We need to leave," I said trying to project a sense of urgency in my voice.

"We can't leave yet! I have to see Spook!" I glowered at Cinder and would have smacked her if I thought it would make a difference, which I knew it wouldn't. Spot just gave me a level look and I crossed my arms and moved a slight distance away from them. Finally I relented, not wanting to be far from Spot. If this was my last night with him, if I couldn't protect him anymore then at least I'd be close by.

We waited for what felt like hours, stomping our feet and shaking with cold. I could barely light a cigarette with the wind whipping snow everywhere, stinging our faces and hands. Spook appeared as suddenly as whatever ghost he was named after and I cried out in shock.

Cinder rushed to him and he took her in his arms. I felt my heart speed up, waiting for the inevitable. Spot suddenly shook himself and motioned for us to follow him. We entered a warehouse by way of a broken door and I cursed Spot for not coming up with this earlier. We used matches and old newspapers to start a small fire, and huddled around it for warmth.

"So out with it, how's the situation back in Harlem?" Spook had been sitting with his arm around Cinder's shoulder, talking in a low voice to her. I was in a state of shock, not believing that the runner had spoken the truth, but also because I felt like I was suspended from my body, watching the scene play out before me like in a movie.

"Not good," Spook said in a weary voice as he stroked Cinder's hair.

"Jinx challenged my leadership so I had to put him back in his place." Spook cracked his knuckles and gave us a humorless grin. I leaned against Spot for more warmth and he slid an arm around my waist.

"Of course I punched his ass around the lodging house so I think he's learned his lesson." Spook sighed and lit the stub of a cigar that he fished out of his coat pocket. Lighting it, he blew on the end so that it smoldered.

"He didn't take it well, which is to be expected. I'm afraid he may plan on retaliation tonight."

Spot tightened his grip on me slightly at the news and flashed me a worried glance. That brought me up short, I didn't think I had ever seen that look on his face before. Shaking my head a little I closed my eyes, my thoughts racing a mile a minute. Spot silently fed more newspaper to the fire, his eyes shuttered not letting any emotion leak onto his lean face.

"Spot I really think it would be better if we went back to the lodging house." Spot stared at me after I whispered into his ear. I was almost frantic as I pleaded silently with my eyes. Spot stood up suddenly and taking my arm, gently towed me a distance away from Spook and Cinder.

We huddled together in the darkness, and I threaded my arms around his waist, laying my head on his chest. Spot's grip tightened around me as he held me close, not speaking. I could feel his heart beating and smelled his scent, a mix of tobacco and the harsh soap we used. I felt a pain in my breast as I thought of losing this after it took so long to gain it.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Spot's spoke close to my ear and I shivered at the feeling of his warm breath. I just mumbled and burrowed my face into his shirt. Finally he eased me away from him and even though I couldn't see his eyes in the dim light I could feel them on me.

"I think this could end very, very badly if we don't go somewhere safer." Spot sighed and

taking my hand, led me back to the small fire and the two people whose problems had washed over us completely.

"We should go back, this place isn't safe," Spot said quietly. Cinder and Spook shared a moment with their eyes before Spook stood up and helped Cinder stand. Nodding in silent agreement, we stomped the fire out and headed towards the door.

Easing it open, Spot peered out into the night, hand on his cane. When he made sure that he didn't see anyone about, he made a motion for us to follow him. There was no sound as we filed out, our footsteps muffled by newly fallen snow. Making our way off the docks, I began to feel hope rising in my chest. Hurrying as fast as we could, we entered an alleyway that opened onto a side street that brought us out to an avenue and closer to home.

It would have been perfect if two figures hadn't suddenly appeared to block our way. Coming to a stop, everyone stood still as we faced Sassy and Jinx. Sassy looked awful, there were purple smudges under her eyes and her cheeks were gaining a hollow look to them. Jinx has his confident smirk, and looked behind him to five Harlem boys, all tall, broad shouldered and grim faced.

"Jinx what the hell are you doing?" Spook's voice was deadly calm as he took a few steps forward to confront Jinx. Jinx's smirk broadened and he just stared at Spook, a challenging expression on his narrow, ferret-like face.

Spook advanced slowly towards Jinx, a determined look settling over him. Jinx watched Spook, his face wiped clean of any emotion now. Allowing Spook to get within fifteen feet in front of him, he shifted on the balls of his feet and whipped a pistol out of his pocket.

Spook reared back, a shocked look on his face. The other Harlem boys began muttering amongst themselves and Sassy looked like she was going to faint. Spot changed his stance and stood in front of me. Spook too had made sure that Cinder stayed put in the shadows and her eyes never left him as this drama unfolded.

Bringing a shaky hand up to my face, I tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear. I'll admit this much and I'm not ashamed to say it, but I was terrified. The gun made things suddenly more serious and definitely more dangerous.

"I'm just here to take what you said I could, leadership of the boys. Now be a nice boy and leave here or I'm going to have to use this." Wagging the gun towards Spook, Jinx swaggered forward.

Sassy went to one side and began carefully backing towards Spook, a tense look on her face. We all watched her as she held up her hands in a placating gesture, staring at Jinx. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was set into a narrow line. Standing in front of Spook she finally spoke.

"You said you weren't going to hurt him, just let him leave quietly. You promised me Jinx, don't go back on your word." Jinx threw back his head and laughed long and hard. Sassy's face closed up and she hung her head in shame.

"You actually believed me? Lord that's rich! Oh Sassy you ignorant slut," he roared out, his shoulder's shaking, tears leaking from the corners of his oddly colored eyes. Finally, he stopped chuckling and his eyes turned deadly serious again.

"How the hell else do you think I'm going to take over Harlem? Do you really think that he'll let it all go without a fight?" Jinx was practically frothing at the mouth, his hands clenching and unclenching.

"But I would Jinx, I would if I knew you wouldn't ruin everything." Spook spoke quietly as he continued to inch forward. I was holding my breath, my heart leaping out of my chest.

Jinx held up the pistol and we all heard the 'snick' as he cocked the hammer.

Spot leapt forward and Jinx fired the gun, all of us freezing in place. Spot dropped like a rock and I cried out as I rushed towards him. Before I could reach his side, Jinx aimed the pistol at me, and I stopped in my tracks.

Flicking his gaze away, he smiled at Spook, a cold, yet gleeful grin that didn't touch his eyes. Cinder took a step forward as Jinx steadied his aim. I saw Spook tense his muscles, preparing to leap, but if he did the bullet had a good chance of hitting Cinder.

The pistol fired, a loud bang echoing in the stillness. Everything happened so fast, and I staggered towards Spot, dropping at his side, breathing hard and feeling faint at the sight of blood on the snow around him. It wasn't until I heard a strangled gasp that I looked over. Sassy lay on the ground at Spook's feet, and he was cradling her in his arms. A red stain was blooming across her chest and Jinx gaped in disbelief as he held the pistol at his side. Frantically I felt for a pulse, pushing two fingers against Spot's neck. When I found it, steady and true, I staggered over to the group of kids not far away.

The Harlem boys who had come with Jinx, now held him roughly as Spook stroked Sassy's hair out of her face. She was gasping for air and every time she did we could hear a faint gurgling sound.

"I feel so cold, Spook. Every thing's so cold." Spook moved slightly as I knelt down and pressed my hands over her wound. Even though I pushed down with all my might, I could feel the warm blood flow over my hands. Cinder stood behind Spook, tears spilling out of her closed eyes and down her cheeks.

"Why you daft girl? Why did you get in the way?" Sassy shuddered, and taking a huge breath, smiled up at Spook.

"Because I love you" she said as her eyes dimmed and clutching at his coat, her body jerked in a spasm blood trickling out of her mouth. Then with one last labored breath, she was gone. Spook bent over her for a few moments his dark hair hiding his face. When he looked up, he glared at Jinx before turning his stare onto two of the Harlem boys.

"Go get the coppers, we're not going to leave her here on the street. They'll be able to bury her in Potter's Field. As for you Jinx," Spook stood up and stalked towards the skinny boy whose arrogance had fled quickly.

"I meant to shoot you...She just jumped in the way, I didn't know..."

"Aye well in either case you're going to Hell you bastard. But if I were you, I'd run."

Jinx looked up at Spook, his amber eyes widening in shock as he digested what Spook was saying to him.

"You just committed murder you wee shit so if I were you and I didn't want to spend the rest of my miserable life in prison, I'd get as far away from New York as possible. I'd kill you but I'm not like you. So run you wee roach...run as fast as you can." Jinx turned, his face white with fear and ran off into the night. Spook took of his coat and covered Sassy's face and upper body with it. He looked so sad, as he took Cinder's hand and looked over at me.

"Is his Majesty okay?" I snapped my head up and swiftly went to Spot. He was groaning and trying to sit up. I almost sobbed in relief as I thrust his coat aside and saw that the bullet had just gone through the fleshy part of his upper arm. With luck it would heal fine, the bullet had passed completely through.

"He'll be fine," I said as I helped him to his feet, throwing one of his arms around my shoulder and staggering a little under the weight. Spook's head went up and he looked strained before glancing at me.

"I can hear the coppers whistles so we better scram. The one and only time I'd ever go looking for them on purpose. Take care of him, and yourself Riot." I nodded mutely as both he and Cinder gave Sassy's body another long look and then we parted ways.


	37. Chapter 37

Spot and I staggered up a steep slippery street, the icy cobblestones making walking a bother. Spot wasn't much help, clutching his injured arm with the other, yet trying to support his weight as much as he could with his cane. Cursing a blue streak as I slipped and skidded on some black ice, I plodded on determined to get him home.

"Tá mé chomh dúr" I heard Spot hiss under his breath when he stepped down off of a sidewalk and the movement jostled his arm. I hadn't ever really heard him speak Gaelic so I was intrigued.

"What did you just say?"Spot cast me an amused look veiled with pain and a corner of his mouth turned up.

"I said I'm so stupid,"he managed, his voice wry. I barked out a laugh even though I really wasn't finding any of this funny. When the lodging house came into sight I could have wept with joy. Letting out a shout, I was relieved when boys began piling out of the building.

Handing Spot over, I brushed off all the curious questions and sternly directed them to bring him up to his room. Letting the warmth wash over me, I found myself faced by a very concerned group of girls, including Duck, Bookworm, Sprite, and Emotions.

"He just got shot in the arm, it probably will be fine," I hastened to explain what had happened, noticing that Actions was hovering around the edge of the circle. Bookworm and Duck bustled into the kitchen where I heard them set the kettle on and Sprite went off to see if she could find any clean rags.

The only thing that worried me, as I sagged against a wall was the risk of infection setting in. That in this time, would kill him for sure. I thought fleetingly of using the mirror and going back to my time to get some antibiotics but I wasn't sure if I'd be allowed to come back.

Emotions leaned up against the wall with me and handed me a cigarette that she lit for me. I think I inhaled it in a minute flat and started to head up the stairs when I felt a hand on my arm holding me back. Turning, I saw Emotions looking at me gravely.

"You look like you're going to drop any second, Riot maybe you should rest." Numbly I shook my head and pushed a lock of sweat soaked hair out of my face and tripped up the stairs to rush to Spot's room.

Four of our largest boys held him down on his pallet, two holding his arms, and the other two holding his legs. Spot was straining, his eyes glassy as he furiously demanded to be let up.

"I ain't no sissy, you bastards let me up. It's just a gunshot there's no need for all this damn fuss." When Spot's eyes landed on me, his neck worked furiously as he tried to sit up.

"Spot knock it off, we have to clean it first," I told him, using my best nurse's voice. He snorted at me skeptically and I moved around one of the boy's holding his arm's and brushed his hair off of his forehead. His blue eyes were full of pain and indignation, as well as shame.

Leaning over so that nobody could see, I brushed my lips against his dry ones and whispered soothing words to him. Well, I hoped that they were helpful but when I straightened up, he looked a tad better. It was slightly amusing to me that the leader of Brooklyn was this uncomfortable about a gunshot wound. But then again I had never had one so who was I to judge?

"Tá mé ag dul go dtí Gortaítear tú gach" Spot rasped out as Duck

and Bookworm entered. Duck was carrying a basin full of steaming water, and she looked at Spot with an exasperated yet fond look.

"He only speaks Gaelic when he's upset, emotional, sick or being a nancy-boy," she huffed. Bookworm put a small brown glass bottle next to the basin that Duck had set down onto Spot's desk. Spot craned his head to look over and made a face when he saw the bottle. One of Spot's boys held a whisky bottle to his mouth and Spot drank deeply. When he lay his head back down onto his thin pillow, he seemed more relaxed.

"What's all the fuss about, we're just going to put something on it and wrap it up, right?" Bookworm shook her head at my naivety and Duck gave me a mere shake of her head. Rolling up the sleeves of her gray blouse, she proceeded to relieve Spot of his shirt and we all made faces at the bleeding, gaping hole in his upper arm.

"No we either need to sew it shut or cauterize it." I swallowed a lump in my throat and didn't meet anyone's eyes.

Burning the flesh closed would provide some cover from bacteria but it was very risky. Duck peered over the injury, prodding with a finger her mouth pursed into a line. Spot made noises everytime she got near the wound and she finally whacked him upside the head.

"Looks like we'll just sew it up for now. Bookworm, go grab me some thread and the thinnest needle you can find." Lifting Spot's head, she held the whisky bottle to his lips and he drank more, some of the amber liquid spilling out of his mouth and sliding down his chin. I almost blurted out that alcohol would thin his blood and cause him to bleed more, but I bit my tongue.

Bookworm soon returned, followed by a trail of curious newsies but she shut the door firmly behind her. Duck was busy wiping Spot's arm with the hot water, cleaning it off as best as she could. Finally, she deemed him ready and threading the needle, she took a deep breath.

"Can't be any worse then sewing through leather right?" Casting a wan smile in my direction, she began. Spot swore fluently and didn't hold back, speaking in a few languages I was astonished that he knew. But then again it was probably phrases he picked up from the streets.

It was over before I knew it, and I stood with my hands clasped tightly in the middle of my stomach. The boys had cleared out of the room, and Duck finished the last stitch, biting the thread with her teeth. Spot jerked a little bit, but lay still his face pale. Bookworm patted his head, and the two girls left after gathering their supplies. Duck nodded towards the brown bottle and a pile of what I hoped were clean rags. Sighing inwardly, I gingerly sat on the edge of Spot's bed.

He looked over at me, his lips and jaw tight with tension. I hummed something tunelessly and taking up the bottle, opened it and sniffed. It was some form of iodine and shrugging, I dripped some onto my fingers and liberally spread it over the newly stitched wounds on the front and back of his arm.

Spot twitched and glared at me, but I just began winding bandages around his arm until it was covered. Then we sat in his dark room, a gas lamp the only light. Watching the flickering shadows, I felt Spot shift in the bed so that he was lying on his uninjured side, facing me. His eyes glittered in the dancing light and I felt his hand slid up my back. I didn't look at him, just turned my face away so that a curtain of my hair hid my expression.

Inside I was panicking because I wasn't sure what to do next. I could go home if I wished, and gripping the key around my neck I felt tears begin to prick the corners of my eyes.

"Hey why the tears? Everything is okay now, Spook and Cinder are in Harlem, Jinx is probably halfway to New Jersey by now and I doubt he's coming back." I sniffed and wiped my nose onto my sleeve. Spot sat up and pulled me against his chest, still bare from his arm being worked on. I relished the solid warmth of him before pulling away.

"I think it's time to find my sister," I heard myself saying. I didn't know why I was distancing myself but part of it had to do with not knowing if I was going to be magically whisked away and brought back to modern day New York.

Spot didn't say anything, just continued to hold me, and I felt his breath tickle the hair on the nape of my neck, as he pushed it aside to kiss me in that exact place. Shivering, I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest, rubbing them as if I was freezing. Really I wasn't, I was just freaked out by knowing that I had to make a serious decision soon.

"If you really want to go find her, then go ahead. I'm not going to keep you from family." Spot's voice was flat and harsh and when I looked over at him, he had moved so that his back was facing me. Frowning and cracking my knuckles like I always did when I was stressed, I left his room and fell into my bed in the girl's room.

The next morning I checked on Spot, and was a little upset to discover that he he was flushed and warm to the touch. I changed his bandages and he just opened his eyes and pierced me to the core. I hurried and made my way down to the basement as unobtrusively as I possibly could.

The mirror stood there as large and imposing as it had been before. Raising a hesitant hand, I lightly brushed the gilded frame and jerked my hand back when I felt something warm and tingly wash over me.

Taking out the key, tears dripping freely down my face, I whispered an apology to Spot and was about to insert the key when I heard someone call my name. Whipping around, I shoved the key back into my blouse and was startled to see Spot coming down the narrow staircase,

"Listen," he said pausing before me, his face serious. Grasping my hands in his, he winced slightly but continued.

"I know you want to find your sister and be a family again, but don't forget the family you have now, here. We want you stay Riot, all of us." I swallowed, a painful feeling as I had quite a lump in my throat. Spot swayed slightly and I steadied him as worry washed over me.

"Well everyone could cope here before I came, and everyone will cope when I leave."

"I won't." Spot's frank statement made my mouth drop open a little and I looked up at him wide eyed.

"You've changed me...not completely," Spot said with a smirk but he drew me closer and wrapped his arms around me so that my nose was pressed into the hollow in-between his collar bone and neck. I inhaled his scent and realized like a lightening bolt to the head that THIS was home to me now. Ghost Spot be damned, I was staying.

"You need to go back to bed and rest," I chided Spot gently.

"Make me," he said as his eyes lit up with a devilish light. Laughing I took his hand and we went back to his room. Later on, as I lay next to him, the shadows lengthening in the room once again, I was in a state of half-sleep when I heard a loud snort and felt an icy chill course through me. Looking up, I let out a strangled gasp that was almost a shriek, but Spot didn't waken.

Ghost Spot floated above me, his legs crossed, a huge shit-eating grin on his translucent face. Pushing myself up onto my elbows, I looked at him with a wild, desperate feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"I'm not going with you, you can't take me back," I grated out, shrinking back slightly as Ghost Spot leaned closer to me. His icy breath fanned over my face and I shuddered.

"You did what I asked, and for that I thank you. But I'm not here to take you back...well not forcibly anyways." Confused I made myself relax by taking a few deep breaths.

"So? What does that mean then?"

"It means my fair Lily that it's your choice. Do you wish to go back to the comforts of your modern home and times or will you stay here in poverty with these street rats?" Angered at his cold words, I squared my jaw.

"I won't go anywhere without him," I said pointing behind me to where Spot still slept. Duck had taken some laudanum from her family's house, just a little bit to take the edge off so he could sleep for a few days since he still had his minor fever. Ghost Spot raised his eyebrows at me and then held up his hands in mock surrender.

"You don't want to go home?" he asked me. Stubbornly I shook my head and he stood in mid-air and gave me a courtly bow.

"As you wish then, you shall remain here. You have fulfilled our agreement and I am very pleased with you. For that I thank you and owe you my undying...well...my dead gratitude. But now since our business is concluded I will leave you." And with that the strange specter disappeared.

My heart pounding, I snuggled close to Spot and squeezed my eyes shut tightly. Mumbling in his sleep, he drew me to him so that my head rested on his bare chest. Running a hand through my tangled hair, he tightened his grip.

"Cailín álainn, is tú mo chroí. tá grá agam duit." Brushing a kiss onto the top of my head, I wrapped my arms around him and inhaled his scent.

As I drifted off to sleep, I knew that I had made the right choice and that this was the home I belonged in. Even though I was practically a hundred years behind my time I had found love and friendship and that alone was enough to get me through this tough life I had chosen. I had made my choice, and I was happy. Drowsily I kissed Spot's chest and knew that I had come home.

Cailín álainn, is tú mo chroí. tá grá agam duit = beautiful girl you are my heart, I love you

Tá mé ag dul go dtí Gortaítear tú gach = I am going to hurt you all

A/N - Ok this story was based on an Adicts song that I love but only part of the song, mainly the end. I'm going to post it so anyone whose interested can read the lyrics. THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO READ THIS!! I hope you enjoyed it, although I'm not sure about the ending. I know I didn't get to responding to comments on the last two chaps but I REALLY REALLY REALLY appreciate all the kind words and support that you guys gave me. I will be writing another story shortly so get ready with your character profiles!!! A/N

"Going Home" by the Adicts

It's so late now

Where's that spark?

Help us out we're in the dark

Institute of correction

Point us in the right direction

I lost in a foreign land

Burning on the desert sand

We hitched a lift

On a camel train

Now we're heading for the rain

Wherever you go

We go a stray

Won't somebody show us the way

When the right road has been found

We will be homeward bound

Going home, we're going home, we're going home

Gotta go to home sweet home.....


	38. Epilogue

A/N -- I decided to do an Epilogue because after rereading and reading some comments, I figured that it was a little bit of a cliff hanger ending. So here you go guys, but this will be the end for this story. Love you all and thank you SO much for all the faithful readers and reviewers, couldn't have done it without your support!! -- A/N

When I woke up, Spot was still sleeping which was unusual for him. Placing a palm on his forehead I could feel the heat radiating from him. Checking his wound I saw that it had already began to turn a deep red around the edges. Biting my lower lip I poured some iodine onto the bandage and wiped it over the wound after cleaning it with some of the leftover water.

Rewrapping his arm with fresh bandages, I went downstairs to make some coffee and scrounge for food. There was some slightly stale bread and a bottle of beer. Shaking my head I brought it upstairs and after gnawing at the bread, I shook Spot awake gently and forced him to eat.

"How do you feel?" Spot glared at me and crossly sat up before grabbing the beer bottle and downing it in a few deep swallows.

"Like shit, why bother asking?" Standing up, I contemplated pouring the dregs of water in the basin over his head but with a sigh I instead walked away and sat in his chair by the window watching more snow fall.

By mid-morning he was sleeping fitfully and moaning in his sleep. I didn't even need to touch his forehead I could feel the warmth radiating off of him. Frowning I racked my brain for a modern remedy that would help bring down some of the infection but came up with nothing. Cursing myself, I decided that all I could do was try to break the fever and keep his arm as clean as possible.

That proved to be more difficult than I thought. Spot was NOT a model patient. By late afternoon he was cross, impatient and through with sitting in bed. Finally I had had enough, and stomping out of the room, encountered Duck heading for his room.

"Have fun, his Majesty is being a fuckhead." Duck snorted at my language and gave me an incredulous look.

"You always do have the most interesting curse words in your vocabulary." Blushing, I shrugged and beat a hasty retreat to the girl's dorm where I flopped down onto my cot and lighting a cigarette, stared at the ceiling.

Was this how Spot died? Not from a gunshot directly but an infection brought upon by the injury?

Duck soon came back into the room and I glanced warily at her. Her mouth was grim and she was shaking her head.

"We need to keep cleaning it and putting cold cloths on his head. I may have to lance it and pour some carbolic acid in there directly." Making a face I sat up and nodded at her.

"Well let's do whatever it is that we have to do."

Once more we enlisted the help of some of our brawny lads and they held him down while Duck held a pocket knife over a candle. I was a little surprised that she knew enough about infections to do that but then again she and Bookworm read enough books that I had no doubt that she knew what she was doing.

Tucking a tendril of hair that had come loose from the braid wrapped around her head, she made a quick incision over Spot's wound and as he gasped, poured a bottle of some strong smelling liquid into the hole. Spot shot up bellowing and began bucking, trying to throw the boys off of him.

They managed to subdue him, and after Duck made a few new stitches, washed the gunshot with some clean hot water and dabbed iodine on it, she wrapped up his arm and gave Spot a shot of whisky.

"I could have used this first damnit," he grated out his eyes shooting daggers at us. Duck just gave him a serene smile.

"I know," was all she said before getting up and walking out of the room. Spot flopped down onto his pillow and with an impatient gesture waved the boys out and held out his hand to me. I took it and he pulled me down into the bed with him. Even though it was damp with his sweat, I pulled his head onto my chest and hummed a song until his breath was even and deep. It wasn't long before I too fell asleep.

I awoke sometime before dawn, and sat up yawning. Checking Spot, I was relieved to find that he wasn't as warm, and sweat was beading his forehead. That was always a good sign and my heart lifted.

It took Spot another few days to recover fully and when did he apologized to everyone who had helped for being such a bastard. Soon the winter weather began to disappear and with it everyone's spirits rose. It was on a wonderfully sunny day that Cinder and Spook showed up and one look at the bundle Cinder held in her arms had me rushing over to her side.

"Ohmygoodness Spot come look!" Cinder looked tired, her red hair pulled back into a messy bun but she was beaming as was Spook. Peering into the blanket I smiled brightly at the little red, wrinkled face.

"We named her Susannah Lily," Cinder said looking at me shyly her cheeks turning pink. I was touched but a little confused.

"Who is Susannah?"

"It was Sassy's real name," Spook said quietly. We all were silent for a few moments. They had buried her in Potter's field as a nameless body claimed by the rough New York streets. But we found out which marker was hers, and put flowers there regularly. She hadn't been very nice but her final act had somehow redeemed her in our eyes.

"That was big of you," I murmured to Sassy. She shrugged and shifted her grip on little Susannah.

"She deserves it none the less. She saved my Spook." Suddenly her face cleared and she held out the little bundle.

"Here, hold her." I fidgeted uncomfortably. It wasn't that I didn't like babies but I didn't want to drop the poor creature and I hadn't held too many infants. Gingerly I took the baby and supporting her head, was surprised at how fragile she was. The baby's eyes opened and she squinted up slightly at me. I was instantly enchanted and looked up, a broad smile lighting up my face.

Spot was watching me, a fond look in his eyes and when Spook and Cinder finally left, we retreated to the front stoop of our building and lit cigarettes. Smoking in a companionable silence, I leaned back and let the sun bathe me with it's warmth.

"Spook said he heard rumors of Jinx running to Baltimore. Good riddance I say," Spot said braking the quiet. I grunted in response and Spot ran his hand over my hair that I had worn loose.

"If feels like it's captured some of the sunshine," he whispered. Sitting up, I leaned against his shoulder.

"I'm glad you're not running off to look for your sister," Spot said in a gruff voice. Turning my head, I met his blue eyes and touched his jaw.

"I don't need to now, I'm here for good."

"Are you sure?" Smiling at him, I slid a hand around to grip the nape of his neck and pulled him to me, kissing him gently.

"I am a hundred percent positive," I said against his lips. He took me into his arms and deepened the kiss.

"Good, because I'm not letting you go, ever." I sighed and felt my body fill up with a glowing happiness. Hide and Seek practically leaping over our heads and running off down the sidewalk made us jerk apart in shock.

Bookworm and Emotions followed, charging down the steps and barely missing knocking us over.

"Sorry Boss, Riot. Little shit's stole my smokes and got sick all over the bathroom floor after smoking all of them," Emotions ranted. Together the two girls pelted after the twins and all Spot and I could do was life.

Standing up, Spot pulled me to my feet and as we entered the lodging house and were greeted by the many voices of the friends that I now though of as family washed over us, he leaned close.

"It's a horrible thing to think but I'm glad your sister ran away or else we wouldn't have met." Nodding my head in agreement, I thought of all that had happened in the past year I had been here.

"If she hadn't I never would have found this place...my real home." Spot tightened his arm around my waist. Fingering the key around my neck, I smiled at the chaos around me and felt so blessed. Home at last, with many more adventures to be had. I was ready, I knew it for sure. Shutting the door behind me, I entered the room and my new life with a smile and hope in my heart.

I was ready to be home for good and what a home it was. As Sprite bounced up to me with a new tale about Skittery I grinned and let the tide of my new life carry me away.


	39. Writer's desperate plea

Author's Note - Okay this is going to seem a little desperate and not probably allowed since this isn't a chapter or anything, just a suggestion.

If you enjoyed Going Home, you will like No Rest For the Wicked, which is the sequel to Going Home.

You will also enjoy A Cold Spring Day which is the sequel to No Rest for the Wicked.

I also have another story out right now called Misery's Company.

I miss all of you guys who read my stories! Where did you go? Come back and let me know what you think of my new stories!

Okay was that desperate enough? I think so. Thanks!

-Riot


End file.
